• OVERNIGHT: Hundreds of elderly adults waited in line overnight Sunday in the urban municipality of Tonalá in western Mexico (pop. 560,000) for a chance to get the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Part of the Guadalajara metro area, Tonalá was given 40,950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
• NUMBERS: Known for its handicraft workshops, Tonalá has a coronavirus mortality rate of 12.5 percent, higher than Mexico’s national average of 8.9 percent according to federal government estimates. As of late Sunday, Tonalá reported 4,511 coronavirus cases and 556 deaths.
•OPPORTUNITY: “For me the vaccine is an opportunity to extend my lifetime”, said 69-year old Martín López, one of the people waiting in line outside a health clinic in Tonalá using plastic chairs. According to López, five of his relatives have died from coronavirus
• TROUBLE: The Mexican government is allocating the vaccine to specifically chosen municipalities from around the country where they know they can immunize all adults above 60. Prior to Tonalá, the only municipality in the Guadalajara metro area that had received the vaccine was Tlaquepaque.
