JNJ Johnson and Johnson

By Ryan Dube

Chilean health officials on Wednesday approved the use of Pfizer's vaccine against Covid-19, the second country in Latin America to approve it.

The Public Health Institute's committee of experts voted overwhelmingly to approve the vaccine as the country begins to see an uptick in new coronavirus cases that have raised fears of a second wave of infection, prompting a new lockdown in the capital of Santiago. Mexico was the first country in Latin America to give the green light to Pfizer's vaccine.

"This is excellent news for the country," said Heriberto Garcia, the director of Chile's Public Health Institute. "Chile is on the vanguard."

Chilean health officials have recently said they hope to begin to vaccinate before year-end, providing the first shots to health workers, police and military officials, as well as people at high-risk if infected with the deadly pathogen. The country hopes to vaccinate about a million people by March, a government minister said.

Chile has been hard hit by the pandemic, reporting more than 570,000 cases and about 16,000 deaths in the country of 18 million people. The government announced last week a partial lockdown for Santiago, including restrictions on movement during weekends, to stem a rise in new coronavirus infections.

President Sebastián Piñera said the government's advances in securing the Covid-19 vaccine would help life return to normal. "This is going to allow us to better control the coronavirus pandemic and to recover our liberties," he said recently.

Chile signed a contract with Pfizer to receive about 10 million doses of its vaccine, which would cover some 5 million people. The country is also expected to receive vaccines from China's Sinovac, which is currently conducting a clinical trial in Chile.

Chile's vaccination plans are more advanced than other South American countries. Peru has an agreement with Pfizer to receive about 9 million doses, but has yet to sign a contract or make a payment to secure those vaccines, government officials said recently. It doesn't expect to begin vaccinations until about the second quarter of 2021.

-- Maolis Castro contributed to this article.

Write to Ryan Dube at ryan.dube@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 16, 2020 12:08 ET (17:08 GMT)

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