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Chile, the big surprise in the global vaccination campaign

By mid-2020 the government was facing intense questioning regarding its handling of the pandemic at just the time the country was suffering from high infection rates. Yet today Chile is applauded for its effective vaccination plan.

25 February 2021

How is the process going? The Chilean vaccination campaign, lauded by the international media has, without a doubt become a world-class achievement. Just three weeks into the inoculation process, the country has already immunized more than 3 million people.

The formula for success: In a world thrown into chaos by the Covid-19 pandemic, Chile managed to successfully navigate the complex shoals of vaccine diplomacy. The country bought 36 million doses after signing agreements with several of the laboratories with potentially available vaccines, including the American companies Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson, the Chinese producer of Sinovac, and the English organization that developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

What was the bet? As part of its procurement strategy, the country offered to participate in the clinical trials of several of the then-emerging, but already existing vaccines.

Who’s who on this journey: There are key people who have made it possible for Chile to be in the top positions of the vaccination ranking.

  • Rodrigo Yáñez: In May 2020, the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations (SUBREI in Spanish) took charge of negotiations with the laboratories. In fact, during negotiations he had to prove to Pfizer-BioNTech that as a result of the social upheaval the Chilean economy has regressed to the levels of almost eight years before, in order to obtain lower pricing than that for developed countries.
  • Jorge Hübner: The head of the Legal Division of the Ministry of Health negotiated the confidential agreements with the laboratories, especially with Pfizer-BioNTech.
  • Ignacio Sánchez: The rector of the Catholic University of Chile (PUC) facilitated Chilean access to the Chinese vaccine by authorizing signature of the collaboration agreement between his university and Sinovac.

The logistics: In Chile, vaccines are universally available to both private and public health sector beneficiaries and are provided through the national vaccination registry. Regardless of where in Chilean territory a person is vaccinated, everything is part of the same platform. This allows for real time tracking and helps to prevent confusion in spacing of the first and second doses.

The big challenge: While the government does recognize that completing the process for the entire population will stretch through 2021, its goal is to vaccinate 80% of the population by June 30, before the protective effect begins to reverse the trend of the disease.