Peru doctors demand COVID-19 booster shots

Doctors in Peru led by the national medic association protested on Tuesday, demanding a third vaccine reinforcement shot amid a dozen cases of doctors dead after being vaccinated.

As they stood in front of the Health Ministry offices, they demanded the third shot to be only from the Pfizer/BioNTech developer after most of them received the Sinopharm.

Miguel Palacios Celi, dean of Peru's Doctors Association, said the protection offered by this vaccine is acceptable for the population, but not for front-line workers who are more exposed to the virus.

Thousands of doctors have been vaccinated in Peru since February.

Still, the doctors association reported 14 medical workers who died after receiving two doses.

Palacios Celi said 32 died after one dose and 115 more unvaccinated doctors died.

The organization's position is to protect health workers with reinforcement shots before new scientific information is available regarding the protection offered to the new variants of the virus.

Furthermore, they say Peru has a weak health system with few specialists.

In the last months, most of the cases in Peru were associated with a highly contagious strain of the virus.

The Sinopharm vaccine is in the World Health Organization's emergency use listing (EUL), which recognizes the suitability of the product to reduce COVID-19 cases.

Sinopharm reported 78% of effectivity to prevent symptomatic cases.

In past February, Sinopharm delivered several priority batches to Peru, where the Chinese developer held late-stage tests.

Doctors were among the first to receive a jab in the country.