Nicaraguan nationals go to Honduras for COVID jab

People in Nicaragua are crossing the border into Honduras to be vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna, rather than the Cuban and Russian vaccines on offer in their own country.

Many are entering Honduras illegally, some crossing the border on horseback or on rafts.

Nicaraguans normally aren't restricted from entering Honduras, but due to the pandemic they are required to show a negative COVID-19 test result, something that can cost $150.

For Catalina Reyes from the town of Guasaule in the Honduran side of the border, vaccinating Nicaraguans is a fair deal.

"It's good, because when we need to, we go to Nicaragua to get medicines to the hospitals there as well," she said.

Honduras, one of the last countries in Central America to receive vaccine supplies, has designated a portion of its stockpile for citizens of neighboring Nicaragua as fewer Hondurans line up to be vaccinated.

Vice Minister of Health Fredy Guillén said Honduras had enough vaccines to be able to spare 500 doses a day for Nicaraguans and citizens of other countries.

Nicaraguan citizen Martha Rodríguez said she decided to make the trip to Guasaule to get vaccinated with vaccines approved by the World Healh Organization that will allow her to travel and work in Central America.

The Honduran government set aside 100,000 doses for Nicaraguans and set up various vaccination sites for them along the border.

But some experts have sounded a cautionary note.

"You can't have an open door without control," said Blanca Munguía, director of health at the nongovernmental organization Association for a More Just Society.

"This can generate greater expectations and then closing the door on Nicaraguans can generate discontent."

Honduras has more than 7 million people older than 12  who would be eligible for vaccination and 6.7 million doses have been applied according to the health ministry.

The vaccination campaign in Honduras will run until November 6, a day before Nicaragua's presidential elections, and the second dose to be administered 28 days later.