Ecuador imposes mandatory vaccination against coronavirus

Quito. – Ecuador became the first country in the region to impose mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 on Thursday After the National Health Authority issued a document called “mandatory guidelines for vaccination against SARS-CoV-2”, due to the increase in infections and the circulation of new variants, such as omicron, which is causing at the international level stress on hospital systems.

“Announce compulsory vaccination against him COVID-19 In the national territory, because of the state epidemic Present risk Who’s new VariablesAvailability and access Vaccines, as well as current scientific evidence,” the document states.

To support the mandatory nature of the vaccine, a measure that has been resisted in many countries, it was clarified that Organic Health Law Attributed to Ministry From the health the responsible From “to advertise the duty subordinate fortifications against each other diseases, under the terms and conditions that Epidemiological reality National and local require; Define standards and Scheme basic national fortifications; And to provide the population with the necessary elements to achieve this at no cost.”

He explained in a statement that the state has the number of doses “necessary to immunize the entire population” and explained that vaccination is a right guaranteed by the state through public policies, programs, procedures and services in a timely manner to enhance comprehensive health care. .

Only people who provide any a medical case the contraindications duly A certified“.

Practically speaking, this means that everything over 12 years old must submit meat From vaccination With full scheme of admission Institutions customer service at non-core domains, how Shopping malls, bars, restaurants, churches, cinemas, theaters.

Remains Zones are exempt from this conditioning Basic which includes services Health, education and work s Public services.

The director of the Emergency Operations Committee, Juan Zapata, announced that they had not considered imposing confinement on Christmas and New Years, but that future measures would be evaluated. And he demanded the responsibility of the citizen and take precautionary measures and biological safety.

The Ecuadorean Ministry of Health has confirmed at least 21 cases of the virus omicron variable in the country. The increase in diagnoses has led authorities to realize they are facing a moment of “epidemiological uncertainty”.

The Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, noted that patients with the omicron variant are experiencing mild symptoms, are under the pandemic fence and are receiving medical treatment.

As of December 23, 12.43 million people in Ecuador, out of a population of 17.3 million, had a full vaccination regimen, which represents 77.2%, and more than 920,000 citizens had a third dose.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, at the end of February last year, 537,032 Ecuadorians have been infected and 33,597 have died.

Despite resistance to anti-vaccine movements, many European countries plan to enforce the commitment.

Austria It plans to pass a bill that would make vaccination mandatory from February 1, 2022 and impose fines of up to 7,200 euros for those who refuse to be vaccinated.

Germany, where more than 10 million people are not vaccinated, also decided to use this political measure: a bill will be introduced in the Bundestag at the end of the year, and mandatory vaccination is expected to be implemented in February and March 2022.

Greece It was announced on November 30 that vaccination will be mandatory for those over 60 from January 16, on pain of a fine of €100 per month until they are vaccinated.

in a United State Vaccination is mandatory for state employees and companies with more than 100 employees.

AP and AFP . agencies