China's COVID-19 vaccine speeds up Ecuador's immunization drive

QUITO, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese pharmaceutical firm CanSino has recently gained more recognition in Ecuador, where it has been widely adopted as part of the country's national vaccination campaign.

According to health authorities, the single-dose vaccine has helped to speed up the vaccination drive nationwide.

Tatiana Pozo, the Public Health Ministry's coordinator for zone 9 in Quito, the country's capital, said the CanSino vaccine was successfully applied in the most remote rural areas of the country, and is now being administered in more densely-populated urban areas, where there is a high demand.

"We have had a good response to this vaccine, which is why today we have it in urban areas, so that the population that did not have access to a vaccine can access the single-dose CanSino vaccine," Pozo told Xinhua.

"People are continuously going for this vaccine," said Pozo, adding that an average of 28,000 people have been vaccinated so far with CanSino in Quito, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Ecuador.

To facilitate vaccination in Quito and spur the economic recovery, the CanSino vaccine is being made available at immunization points set up at public transit stations and bus terminals through next Monday.

In southern Quito's El Recreo trolleybus station, commuters were waiting in line to get the CanSino vaccine, including 21-year-old nursing student Nayeli Davila.

"I have heard (the vaccine) is very good. I study at a nursing institute and the truth is that I need the vaccine now to start my internship. It gives you more confidence and security when you go out," Davila told Xinhua.

CanSino is the second Chinese vaccine administered in Ecuador to fight the pandemic following the CoronaVac, another COVID-19 vaccine made by China's pharmaceutical company Sinovac, Ecuador's leading supplier of COVID-19 vaccines.