Santiago, Feb 21 (IANS): The Chilean government reported on Saturday that 2,827,091 people had been vaccinated against Covid-19 via the mass vaccination program that began on February 3.

Chilean Deputy Health Minister Paula Daza explained that of the total people inoculated, 1,711,810 were over 65 years of age, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"We have vaccinated more than 67 per cent of people over 65 years of age. And next week, we are going to continue vaccinating teachers between 59 and 40 years old, but also all those people over 65 who were not able to get vaccinated during these last weeks," said the official.

"Our older adults are not only at greater risk because of their age, but also because older people have more chronic diseases," she stated.

The vaccination process in Chile began with the inoculation of those over 90 years of age.

A large part of the vaccines being used in the country are from the Chinese company Sinovac. President Sebastian Pinera and the Minister of Health Enrique Paris were both vaccinated with shots from the Chinese company.

The Ministry of Health of Chile reported on Saturday 3,893 new cases of Covid-19 and 77 more deaths.