Honduran gov’t agency begins Covid-19 vaccination

Tegucigalpa, May 25 (EFE).- The Honduran state health insurance agency (IHSS) began large-scale vaccination on Tuesday after taking delivery of 204,000 of the 1.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine it purchased several months ago.

Priority is being given to enrollees over 60, both those who are still working and retired public employees, IHSS administrative board member German Leitzelar told the media.

Enrollees between the ages of 18 and 59 with underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to Covid-19 are also eligible.

“I am thankful because I am finally getting vaccinated,” 67-year-old middle school teacher Lidia Rosales told Efe at Francisco Morazan National Pedagogical University in Tegucigalpa, where she was accompanied by one of her three adult children.

Wearing two masks, Rosales acknowledged that she had been “anxiously awaiting” her chance to get the shot.

The IHSS expects to vaccinate some 700,000 people, counting enrollees and their children.

Honduras, a country of 9.5 million, has so far vaccinated less than 1 percent of the adult population. The government says that it has made arrangements to secure 14 million doses of vaccine, though officials have not offered any timetable for when those vaccines will be available.

Coronavirus has claimed 6,188 lives in Honduras since the first case was detected in the Central American nation in March 2020, according to authorities, while the number of confirmed cases stands at more than 233,000. EFE

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