@Discombobulated - Yeah, they did AstraZeneca trials here too. I know someone who participated. With hindsight, I sort of feel like I should have looked into participating. It would have been a way to get a vaccine, but they were done at a hospital in the north of Santiago, when I live 40 km to the south of the city. I would have had to put myself at risk of COVID on the train and Metro just to get there and back. The AstraZeneca vaccine was approved here today. However, there are production problems and the EU is trying to restrict exports of the vaccine until their orders are fulfilled. I heard a statement from a government official here that made it sound like we are getting doses in a few months, but no one seems to be paying attention to the battle to get vaccines that is going on in the world. As a small, middle-income country with no clout, we are way down the priority list.


The propaganda campaign to get people to get the Sinovac vaccine continues. They have doctors on all the morning news shows trying to shame anyone that questions it. One guy did a short comparison of Sinovac with AstraZeneca and basically glossed over the difference in efficacy. I am sure most of the doctors speaking have already had their Pfizer vaccines. No one has even asked or answered if what we are getting will be useful on new strains. Supposedly, the municipalities are setting up vaccination centers next month. I wonder how many people will actually go. My husband and I are sort of wondering if it's going to be a sort of a elite vs. lower income segments of society issue. People over 60 automatically are supposed to get the Pfizer vaccine, which includes a lot of our high-level political leaders, business leaders, etc. I am sure if you have money you can find other ways to get the more effective vaccines, possibly in the private system. Others will be stuck with the less effective option. Who knows if we will be headed towards new social unrest due to it? Sadly, lower-income households often live in crowded conditions and have more preexisting health conditions, so they probably have more of a need for a vaccine that gives better results.


Oh, yeah and don't get me started on the people that want to travel here. Again on the forum for expats, after that guy wanted to figure out how to avoid quarantine to go fly fishing with 8 or his nearest and dearest friends, there have been more inquiries from people that want to come here now. One guy wanted to go to a region that is under strict lockdown with limited hospital capacity. Again, he was told by the site administrator it was a bad idea. People can't see beyond their own nose and what they want to do. I don't even think he had been vaccinated yet, and it's not clear yet if vaccination means you can't transmit the virus. The last thing we need is more imported cases. Covidiots and their parties are doing a good enough job spreading it around as it is.

@AzulOscuro. I did the same thing the other day. I went to take one of the dogs out for a walk early in the AM and I completely forgot the mask. It's silly, there was hardly anyone out, just a few people in their cars heading out for work. I could have been fined regardless, since our municipality requires them in all public spaces. Fortunately we are in a small gated community outside of town so the police and municipal security don't come around much.