Argentina's vaccination campaign advances to elderly

Buenos Aires, Feb 20 (IANS) The vaccination campaign against Covid-19 infection in Argentina, which began in January with health workers, has now moved on to senior citizens.In the country's largest province of Buenos Aires, which accounts for 41.73 per cent of Covid-19 cases, immunisation is being administered in 169 public hospitals, 169 public schools and 21 medical centres, the Xinhua news agency reported. "Those over 70 years old will be vaccinated, followed by those over 60, as well as teachers with risk factors because classes begin on March 1" in the province, said Salvador Giorgi, the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Health."The idea is to vaccinate the entire 'target' population, which includes people over 60 years old, health workers, teachers, teachers' assistants and the police. In Buenos Aires Province, that amounts to 5,800,000 people, so it will take a few months to vaccinate that population and then we will continue throughout the year," he said.The vaccination campaign for the elderly began on Thursday in 20 cities in the province and was extended on Friday to include all of its 135 cities.As of Friday, Argentina had an accumulative total of 2,054,681 Covid-19 cases and 51,000 deaths from Covid-19.
--IANS int/rs