Ecuador To Receive 50,000 Doses of Pfizer Vaccine

Ecuador's authorities Wednesday announced the country bought 50,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.

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The doses will arrive in the country on January 18. The vaccination campaign will start with health workers who assist COVID-19 patients.

The military, police, the elderly who are in public nursing homes, and their workers will also receive Pfizer doses as part of the vaccination program's first phase.

The mass immunization plan will begin in March when 2 million doses arrive in the country in weekly shipments.

Firefighters, teachers, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with risk diseases will be immunized during the first weeks of the massive vaccination campaign. 

"Later, health authorities will distribute the vaccine among the Ecuadorian people older than 18 years old," Moreno said.

In recent days, COVID-19 infections increased in the country as intensive care units collapsed in the cities of Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Ecuador has reported 217,377 COVID-19 cases and 14,146 deaths from the disease.