ASUNCION (Reuters) – The United States said on Monday it will donate one million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to Paraguay, offering relief to the South American country whose immunization program is moving slowly amid a new wave of COVID-19 cases.
State Department official Victoria Nuland announced during an official visit to Asuncion that the vaccines should arrive in Paraguay “in a few weeks.”
“We are going to donate one million doses of Pfizer vaccines to Paraguay,” said Nuland, who also pledged help from Washington to accelerate delivery of doses through the global COVAX vaccine sharing program, co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO).
President Joe Biden said this month that the United States “will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19.” Nuland met with Paraguayan President Mario Abdo in Asuncion and spoke with local media.
Paraguay, with a population of 7 million, confirmed 152 deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, a daily record that brought the country’s coronavirus-related fatalities to 12,517 since the start of the pandemic.
Paraguay’s Health Ministry said 665,117 people in the country have gotten at least one vaccine dose so far. The donation of 1 million Pfizer doses to Paraguay is part of Washington’s overall pledge to donate 80 million shots.
(Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
