2,2 Million Chileans To Lose Vaccine Pass If Not Immunized Soon

On Tuesday, Chilean Health Undersecretary Cristobal Cuadrado announced that over 2.2 million adult citizens who received their last COVID-19 vaccine over six months ago will lose their vaccination passes if they do not receive a booster dose by June. 

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“Coronavirus vaccines’ effectiveness begins decreasing from the fourth month of the last shot. Therefore, it is extremely important that these citizens receive a booster dose,” Cuadrado explained, recalling that citizens without vaccination pass cannot participate in public events or attend closed spaces.

In February, Chile's daily average of COVID-19 contagions rose to over 40,000 due to the irruption of the highly-contagious Omicron strain. Hundreds of citizens who were last vaccinated in August then lined up to receive a booster dose- Queues were especially common at health centers in the capital, where 42 percent of the Chilean population lives.

Since coronavirus cases considerably dropped in April, national authorities eliminated the mandatory use of masks in outdoor places and the vaccination certificates requirement for tourists who wish to enter the country.

These measures prompted that national COVID-19 infections suddenly increased by 35 percent and that the daily cases average rose to 4.968 over the last week. Coronaviurs patients admitted to intensive care units have yet continued to decline. Currently, there are only 150 Chileans in this condition, most of whom had not been fully immunized against the disease.

Up to now, 93,9 percent of the Chilean population has received at least one coronavirus vaccine, and 17,5 million citizens have been fully immunized against the disease. 

As of May 24, Chile had reported 3,651,076 coronavirus cases and 57,813 related deaths, three of which occurred in the last 24 hours.