Ecuador launches 100-day vaccine plan, president recognizes challenges

FILE PHOTO: A man gets his vital signs checked by a doctor before entering to get a dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine during a mass vaccination program for the elderly, at the Bolivarian Technology Institute, in Guayaquil, Ecuador April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Santiago Arcos

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador this week launched a plan to vaccinate 9 million people against the novel coronavirus in 100 days, part of recently installed President Guillermo Lasso's plan to revive the economy by battling the pandemic.

Lasso recognized that the country needed to acquire further doses from overseas in order to reach that goal, and said the government was in talks with Russia over the purchase of some 18 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.