Dec 25, 2020 - World

Chile becomes first South American country to start COVID vaccination

Oriana González

Picture of a patient receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in Santiago, Chile. — Nurse receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Santiago, Chile. Photo: David Lillo/Ministerio de Salud de Chile via Getty Images

Chile became the first country in South America to begin coronavirus vaccinations on Thursday after receiving its first 10,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses, Reuters reports.

The big picture: The country bought 10 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech and is expected to receive 240,000 doses in January, per Reuters.

It has secured 36 million doses overall, Bloomberg writes.

Details: Medical workers were the first to be inoculated. Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said people with chronic illnesses and the elderly would be the next groups to receive the vaccine, per AP.

By the numbers: Chile has more than 596,000 confirmed COVID cases and over 16,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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Chile becomes first South American country to start COVID vaccination

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