Ecuador secures 2 mln doses of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

QUITO - Ecuador will receive 2 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for mass vaccination against COVID-19, after negotiations were finalized on Thursday, Ecuadoran Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos said.

"Sinovac is being incorporated ... Just this morning we received the approval with all the seals and legal approvals from the Chinese government and the company," Zevallos told a press conference.

This "is very important because it will allow us to quickly reach the required percentages and help us tremendously to cover a higher percentage of the population," the minister said.

Of the 2 million doses, 1 million will arrive in March and the remaining in April, he said.

The nation has now secured 20 million doses of vaccines from vaccine manufacturers, the minister said. In addition to the 2 million CoronaVac doses, the country will receive 6 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 5 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and 7 million doses from the COVAX Facility Initiative led by the World Health Organization.

Ecuador's pilot vaccination program, which kicked off on Jan 21, has so far inoculated health personnel in 55 hospitals and seniors in 19 nursing homes. The government's goal is to start mass vaccination of 60 percent of the population, or 9 million people, in March.