A nurse prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Santiago, Chile, March 25, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

 
Chile has fully vaccinated 78.34 percent of its target population against COVID-19, or 11,908,045 people, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

So far, 13,062,630 people have received their first vaccine dose, or 85.93 percent of the target population, Health Minister Enrique Paris reported during a press conference.

Nationwide, 24,471,952 vaccine doses have been administered from the more than 27 million doses of vaccines that have arrived in the South American country to date.

"In the coming weeks new shipments of COVID-19 vaccines will continue to arrive from different laboratories," Paris said.

According to the government, the mass vaccination program aims to fully inoculate 15,200,840 people, or 80 percent of Chile's total population, with the objective of achieving herd immunity.

This week, 14-year-olds will join other adolescents in receiving their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was authorized for use with this age group.

In the last 24 hours, Chile reported 1,861 new COVID-19 infections and 181 deaths, bringing the country's total to 1,604,713 cases and 34,792 deaths.