In the midst of increasing fears among European countries over a variant coronavirus strain that is believed to be far more contagious than the original version, three Latin American countries launched mass immunization programs on Thursday. Mexico and Chile frontline medical staff were among the first to receive their vaccines while Costa Rica began its own immunization program, with President Carlos Alvarado hailing what "may be the beginning of the end of this pandemic."
Mexico televised the start of its mass immunization program after it received its first 3,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from Belgium. "It's the best gift I could receive in 2020," 59-year-old Mexican nurse Maria Irene Ramirez said as she received the injection at a hospital in the capital. Mexico has registered more than 120,000 Covid-19 deaths, the world's fourth highest toll after the United States, Brazil and India.
46-year-old nursing assistant Zulema Riquelme was the first person in Chile shown receiving the jab in the presence of President Sebastian Pinera. Elizabeth Castillo, a wheelchair-bound, 91-year-old nursing home resident, was the first person in Costa Rica to be vaccinated. Argentina has received the first 300,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine on Thursday on a special flight from Moscow. The country is the first in Latin America to approve the Russian vaccine.
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