Mayor of Equador’s largest city claims vaccines are a matter of ‘life and death’

On July 14, Mayor Viteri declared: “The message is very clear, what we are offering you through the vaccine is to live.” She went on to claim: “The vaccine means living, the possibility to be alive. Not getting vaccinated means the certain possibility of dying if infected with Covid,” without citing any scientific evidence to support her alarmist claims.

She continued: “The difference between taking the vaccine or not is that you can still get infected in both cases – without one you could die and with the other you live, that is the difference.”

She also gave notice: “To the public, after a few months, this same table of the cantonal COE will make decisions such as, for example, requiring vaccination certification of two doses to enter shopping centers and restaurants, and to get on the Metrovia,” the most widely-used means of transportation in the city. “Therefore, the vaccination certificate will be your pass if you want to leave your home. You have several months to get vaccinated before measures like the ones we are announcing take effect.”

“In addition, we will deliver kits with food to all those who receive their first and second doses,” she promised on Twitter.

On March 29, Guayaquil’s Mayor and Public Health Minister Mauro Falconí signed an Inter-Institutional Framework Agreement to receive 1.8 million doses to vaccinate all the inhabitants of Guayaquil.

Aquí no se trata de contagiarnos o no, se trata de vivir o morir. La vacuna es el arma que tenemos para combatir el Covid-19 por lo que es obligación de todos acudir a los puntos de vacunación e inocularse. ¡No perdamos más! pic.twitter.com/yr963cu3ZZ

— Cynthia Viteri (@CynthiaViteri6) July 14, 2021