COVID-19 vaccination makes headway in remote parts of Uruguay

Uruguay, July 2021 (PAHO) Before the coronavirus hit Uruguay, walking around with a face mask, not greeting others with a kiss, and not sharing one's tea (mate) was unthinkable. It was also rare to see a social club in a town in the interior part of the country turn into a vaccination station one morning and a freezer serve as a a desk.

In the new normal––or at least to get back to the way things were––people were coming by horseback, motorcycle, bicycle, or car to the Cerro Colorado Social Club in the department of Florida, to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The following three stories depict the desire to vaccinate people or to get vaccinated, which is expanding throughout Uruguay, where 50% of the population has been fully inoculated four months after the COVID-19 vaccination campaign began.

The following three stories depict the desire to vaccinate people or to get vaccinated, which is expanding throughout Uruguay, where 50% of the population has been fully inoculated four months after the COVID-19 vaccination campaign began.

Talking with our eyes

"Fortunately, people come up to us and ask questions, and what’s nice is that we have learned to talk with just our eyes because they can't see our mouths, so we use gestures and have been able to share all the knowledge we've been accumulating," said Lorena Sastre, a nursing assistant who works in the surgical unit of the Florida Hospital and participates in the campaign promoted by the Ministry of Public Health to vaccinate people in the smallest towns of Uruguay.

Lorena recounted that people are sometimes afraid when they arrive and are not sure whether or not to get the vaccine. "Sometimes they don't want to, but then they come a little closer, as if to say, “If someone convinces me, I'll get vaccinated.'" So she asks about their fears and is able to allay them by asking "How do you want the virus to enter your body? Do you want to get the full force of the actual virus, which is going to affect you in an unknown way? Or do you want it to be milder? Getting the vaccine doesn't mean you won't get sick, but if you do, you'll be a little more protected," she explained.

This nursing assistant tells them that if they feel pain after getting the vaccine, they can take a pain reliever. "Then the person says, 'well then this isn't as bad as I thought.'" For Lorena, "it is very satisfying to go from town to town" vaccinating people, something that she feels "is also history in the making."

Getting vaccinated at a gallop

Fredi Giménez, a young rural worker from the area, travelled on horseback to get the vaccine. He decided to do it "as a precaution," not so much because he was afraid of getting sick but because of "the elderly," he said. "A lot of people are dying these days, so you have to try be as careful as possible," he added. He was glad that vaccinators traveled to towns in the interior part of the country, since it enables those who "can't get to the city to be vaccinated."

He said the pandemic changed his life in many ways: "You have to walk around all day with a face mask on and take care of yourself; before, we used to go out nearly every day to mess around and all, but that's all gone, now you have to get your act together and take care of yourself. We'll have to wait to see if this changes the situation,” he said, hoping that it does.

Making friends with needles

One of the people who was afraid of needles is Rodrigo Rodríguez, a rural manager from Florida, and a hunter who lives between the Talita and Palermo stations. "My sister who lives here told me they were vaccinating. I wasn't going to go because, frankly, I’m not a great friend of needles, but I have four kids and I came because of them... plus I'm not so young anymore and a little extra weight could also do me in," he acknowledged. In the end, the shot didn't hurt at all.

After receiving the vaccine, while waiting to be sure there was no allergic reaction, he said that he no longer goes to auctions or parties like he used to do. "Every day you see the number of cases, regardless of age. This is something we can't see. If you're fighting an enemy you see, you can avoid it, but if you can't see it, you don't know where it might be," he said, expressing his fear of getting infected and infecting others. "People from the country are not used to going somewhere and not shaking hands," he lamented, referring to the recommended health measures to curb COVID-19 infections such as physical distancing. "With this vaccine thing, maybe we can slow (the spread) and get back to normal life," he said hopefully.

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