The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reports at the national and international level two opposite statistics on the progress of vaccination against covid-19 in Nicaragua. In one, the country has already reached a vaccination coverage of 52% and in another, supplied to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the coverage is 7.38%, with both doses, and 17.6% with one.
The data released at the national level do not allow to verify if the percentage of vaccinated is real, since they do not detail the number of first and second doses applied. Nor is their publication consistent because some days they release the vaccination report and others not. Between Friday 05 and Monday 08 November it was not published. This Tuesday it was resumed, but on Wednesday it was not disclosed again.
According to the latest PAHO update, until November 5, the Ministry of Health reported that they had applied 1.6 million doses, of these 68,611 were single doses, 1,180,485 first doses and 425,658 second. However, at the national level it was ensured that, by then, 3.1 million people had already been vaccinated, representing 51% coverage.
PAHO recommends that “if multiple vaccines are used in a country with different requirements regarding the doses to be administered, it will be necessary to compare the coverage between products with the last protective dose of each vaccine” and not with the first doses.
Difference between data
The figures reported to PAHO do not even come close to the first vaccination report published by the Minsa, almost three weeks ago. According to PAHO, until last Thursday, the Minsa applied 11,191 doses of Soberna 02 and Abdala. But the Ministry reported at the national level that only at noon on October 25 they applied 50,048 doses of both vaccines and the figure now rises to 684,897 doses.
The amount of Sputnik Light doses is also different. PAHO reports only 68,611 doses applied; while the Minsa reports more than 1.3 million until October. It is unknown why international information is so out of date.
According to public information from the Minsa, since March 2, when the application of doses began until November 9, 2021, 3,344,33 people have been vaccinated, including children, adolescents and adults. The highest number reported by PAHO is of applied doses of AstraZeneca / Covishield, which until last November 5 was 1.6 million doses applied, of which 232,880 are second doses.
If the percentage of vaccination coverage reported by Ortega were real, it would exceed the percentage of immunization achieved by Honduras – which is 34.32% – and would almost equal that of Costa Rica, which is 54.4%. On the continent, Nicaragua would go from being the second country that has vaccinated the fewest people, to being among the ten countries with the highest coverage.
Booster dose and house-to-house vaccination
Vaccination in Nicaragua intensified since last month, when the number of available vaccines increased. The latest record of the arrival of vaccines indicates that there are 9,725,807 doses in the country, the majority from Cuba and Russia.
With these doses, vaccination of children older than two years and adolescents began. Although PAHO recommends prioritizing the vulnerable population, before starting with the pediatric population. Likewise, since Monday a booster dose has been applied to older adults who were vaccinated with Covishield, last April and May, and second doses to pregnant, postpartum and lactating women.
Also, the vice president and spokesperson, Rosario Murillo, announced that they will begin to vaccinate house to house and will establish “itinerant brigades“ for “reach the most distant communities“.
“Vaccinate house to house, we have the strength to go from home to home for everyone who wants to, because we remember that vaccination is voluntary, everyone who wants to get vaccinated in their own home“said Vice President Rosario Murillo, through government media.
Likewise, since last week the extension of vaccination was announced by allocating health fairs and markets. During the pandemic, the Ortega government has been questioned for its management and opacity.
The most questioned data is the number of deaths, according to the latest report in 20 months of the pandemic, only 210 deaths have occurred. In vaccination, the country lagged behind because it did not stock up on vaccines, and the purchases it did make went to allied governments.
