The Dominican Republic has donated 101,000 and 304,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to Honduras and Guatemala, respectively. President Luis Abinader had announced last week the donation of around 500,000 doses of vaccines. The Dominican Republic has a surplus of vaccines because the first batches contracted with pharmaceuticals did not arrive on time and the Health Cabinet acted promptly to find other sources. The contracts signed with the pharmaceuticals oblige the country to take the vaccines even when they arrived after they were first expected.
The donated vaccines were dispatched on Monday, 6 September 2021 to Central America. Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez was present for the formal deliveries to the representatives for Honduras and Guatemala.
Foreign Minister Alvarez said the DR has received requests from several governments in Central America and the Caribbean. “It is a privilege to be able to contribute with this donation to sister countries, given the situation of the vaccine inventory in our country, which allows us this act of solidarity,” said Alvarez.
The donation was received on behalf of Honduras by Lisandro Rosales, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Honduras, who traveled to the country expressly to receive the donation and return with it to Honduras. Also present were the ambassador of Honduras, Claudia Simón, and José Lorenzana, minister counselor of that diplomatic mission in our country. Rudy Coxaj, ambassador to Guatemala in the Dominican Republic, received the donation on behalf of the people of Guatemala. Both thanked the Dominican people for their gesture of solidarity.
According to Our World in Data. Honduras has fully vaccinated 1.31 million, or 13.4% of its 10 million population. Guatemala has vaccinated 4.9 million, or 8.6% of its 18.3 million population. The Dominican Republic has vaccinated 4.7 million, or 55% of its 7.8 million adult population. The percentual difference is that thousands of children have also been vaccinated in the DR.
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Ministry of Foreign Relations
N Digital
Diario Libre
7 September 2021