In total, 21 thousand doses of the Astrazeneca vaccines were given to Sanmiguelenses between the ages of 30-39 on Mon-Wed the week of August 2. However, the process was faced with logistical delays and rain that broke through the lines at both the vaccination points, COMUDE and Cardo.

 

Prior to August 2, the health authorities and the municipal government were clear about the vaccination process. On all three days, vaccinations were to begin at 12:30 pm. As with previous vaccination undertakings, the public was advised not to stand in line starting the day before, or starting at dawn the day of. This did not stop the intrepid, who held a place in line with a bench or a chair the night before. 

 

When Atencion visited El Cardo before the vaccination were to start on August 2, the line was already one kilometer long, inside and outside the parking lot. Federal workers were set up with their paperwork, ready to process registrations. The first to be taken were 30-39 years old, but also eligible for the vaccination were those who were behind in their vaccines—those between 40-49, older adults, and pregnant women. The Federal workers had access to electronic devices to offer support to those who did not have the forms from mivacuna.gob site. They had pre-printed forms that could be filled out by hand.

 

Those waiting became distressed because they had arrived early in the morning and the vaccines had not arrived on time. In fact, the inoculation process did not begin until after 3pm. It rained, and people ran wherever they could for shelter, breaking ranks. The same happened in COMUDE, where the thirty-somethings pulled canvases from the cyclonic mesh to cover themselves.

 

Eventually, nine thousand doses were given at Cardo, and 12 thousand at COMUDE, at a rate of about 500 vaccines per hour. The module at El Cardo was under the direction of the Mexican Institute of Social Security. At this site there were four vaccination stations, each with two health workers, or eight vaccinators. Each of the three days they administered three thousand doses. 

 

“If we don’t get sick from a reaction to the vaccine, we will from the flu caused by the rain,” some of the recipients of the anti-Covid vaccine commented. Others, in a lighter tone, said that this is how they used to line up in their 20s to enter bars and nightclubs.