Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle announced an agreement with the U.S. pharmaceutical Pfizer-BioNTech and the Chinese company Sinovac for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.
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The agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech covered 2 million doses, 200,000 of which are expected to arrive in March. The deal with Sinovac included 1,750,000 doses.
A US$120 million budget was approved for the drug purchase, which will allow the vaccination of 2,800,000 people.
Over 1,500,000 COVID-19 vaccines were also secured through the United Nations-led initiative COVAX.
The vaccines will be first applied to health personnel, people over 75 years old, and workers of the educational system in order to resume classes with "face-to-face attendance".
Noting that there were negotiations with three other pharmaceuticals, Lacalle also informed that the vaccination would not be mandatory.
A recent report by the Honorary Scientific Advisory Group (GACH) showed that COVID-19 cases grew sharply between November and mid-December. As of Monday morning, health authorities had reported 37,633 COVID-19 cases and 376 related fatalities.