© Martin Alipaz / EFE
A woman receives the vaccine once morest Covid-19 during a vaccination day in La Paz, Bolivia, on January 7, 2021.
The Government of Luis Arce yielded to the anti-vaccine mobilizations of social sectors of the ruling party itself and suspended in Bolivia the requirement as of January 26 in public and private institutions for the vaccination card once morest Covid-19 or negative PCR tests, when The fourth wave of an unprecedented mass contagion is intensifying and dozens of daily deaths from the disease have been recorded.
The Minister of Health, Jayson Auza, explained that the National Strategic Health Emergency Council, made up of 11 ministers, resolved the “suspension of the presentation of the vaccination card or negative PCR test for Covid-19”, because the Protests have become sources of contagion and scenes of violence.
The decision was criticized by opposition authorities and, contrary to what was expected, it did not deactivate the mobilizations because the anti-vaccine protesters demand the repeal of the decrees that require a health card or negative PCR to carry out various activities.
This is the third time in a year that Arce has backed down significantly in the face of pressure from the very foundations of the ruling party, as happened when he withdrew a law to investigate allegedly ill-gotten fortunes and a draft rule to collect taxes from digital platforms.
In this case, the requirement of the card or the PCR initially came into force on January 1 in public institutions, supermarkets, banks, churches, universities, and for recruitment in the Army, but five days later it was postponed to January 26 and this Wednesday it has finally been suspended, following a series of street pressures from anti-vaccine groups linked to the government Movement for Socialism (MAS).
The demonstrators blocked a trunk road between the cities of La Paz and Oruro with stones; a route to the Copacabana sanctuary, bordering Peru; streets in the city of El Alto, and highways in the city of Cochabamba (downtown), where they clashed with police agents.
Among the protesters who promoted these blockades are the associations of retail merchants from La Paz and El Alto, rural teachers, groups of young Aymaras and neighborhood associations that defend treatments once morest Covid-19 with medicinal plants, distrust vaccines, but They also echo theories such as that vaccination implants chips in people to control them, as seen on social networks.
Unprecedented infections in the fourth wave of the pandemic
The fourth wave of infections attributed to the Delta and Ómicron variants is unprecedented in Bolivia and has set a record of more than 11,200 daily cases and has caused the death of dozens of people every day, the worst day being Tuesday, January 18, with 86 deceased.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bolivia has registered 774,227 infections and 20,377 deaths and in the fourth wave the fatality rate has stood at 0.6%, which shows, according to the Government, the effectiveness of vaccines once morest 6, 2% lethality of the first wave.
In a statement that caused confusion among municipal authorities and opposition governors, journalists and on social media, the minister also said that the card will be suspended for the duration of the health emergency and that once it is over, the card will be required once more. document, except in hospitals, pharmacies, schools, transport companies, judicial institutions and banks, among others.
“Irrationality won,” says the mayor of La Paz
The rejection reactions of opposition political leaders were harsh when criticizing the fluctuations of the Ministry of Health.
The governor of La Paz, the Aymara opponent Santos Quispe, and that of Chuquisaca, the Quechua leader Damián Condori, separately regretted the government’s decision and ratified that, by virtue of the autonomous powers, in their regions the requirement of the vaccination card to access public and private spaces.
Quispe said that the card will be required in health centers, at the airport and in land transport terminals, although for this the governor will need the support of the Police, which, however, responds to the Government.
On his Twitter account, the mayor of La Paz, the opposition Iván Arias, accused Minister Auza of making fun of the country’s health: “So many comings and goings. Minister wayronco (Andean bumblebee) who despises, mocks the life and health of Bolivians. Demagoguery and incapacity. Irrationality won.
The fourth wave has begun to escalate in La Paz, which has forced the Mayor’s Office to carry out house-to-house vaccination campaigns, achieving more than 10,000 daily inoculations.
On the same social network, former opposition presidential candidate and businessman Samuel Doria Medina said that “the government is backing down once once more. He suspends a necessary measure because he is not interested in governing (which requires paying political costs), only in staying in power.”
“Immediate repeal”, protesters demand
Despite the formal announcement of the suspension of the health card, the most active anti-vaccine groups, which carry out blockades in El Alto and Cochabamba, continue their protests to demand “the immediate repeal” of the decrees, according to what the protesting groups declared before the media.
From a point of protest, the leader of the Civic Committee of El Alto, Gregorio Gómez, said that “the blockade is indefinite until the decree is repealed” and that they are not opposed to vaccines, but to the requirement of the card so that People are forced to get vaccinated.
In the K’ara K’ara sector in Cochabamba, one of the protest leaders said that they will continue with the demonstration “until the damn laws (decrees) that are once morest health are repealed” and that forcing them to get vaccinated “is a violation of the rights” established in the Constitution.
The protesters have also demanded the resignation of Minister Auza, which has coincided with demands from other sectors for several ministers to also be removed from their positions around January 22, the anniversary date of the Plurinational State, although President Arce reportedly communicated to social leaders who do not plan to make changes.