Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou and Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao on Monday received their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine from China's Sinovac.

Lacalle got the jab at the Maciel public hospital in Montevideo. He thanked "the team of vaccinators" via Twitter, calling them the "pride of the nation." The president received the first dose at the end of March, the worst month of the epidemic in Uruguay.

Mourao tested positive for COVID-19 last December, and he in March got the first shot. The vice president made the announcement on Twitter and encouraged "everyone to get vaccinated when the time comes." He also urged the public to keep social distance, wash hands and wear face masks.

So far, about 14.3 million cases of coronavirus cases have been reported in Brazil and 391,000 people have died. The country on Saturday marked a grim milestone: 67,977 deaths were reported in April, the deadliest month yet in the country's COVID-19 epidemic.

In Uruguay, 184,865 cases and 2,326 deaths have been registered since the COVID-19 outbreak last year. Uruguay's immunization plan, which mainly applies Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccines, began on March 1 and has so far vaccinated more than 32 percent of the population.

Speaking to reporters on Monday morning, Lacalle said that "what is most worrying" is "the loss of classes for children" as a result of school closure at the end of March, adding that officials will soon announce whether they plan to prolong the closure.

According to official data, China has exported and donated over 100 million Chinese vaccines globally so far as the country promised to make its vaccine a global public good that is available and affordable especially for developing countries. 

According to a real-world study by Chile, China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine was 67 percent effective in preventing symptomatic infection, 85 percent effective in preventing hospitalization, 89 percent effective in preventing admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), and 80 percent effective in preventing death caused by the coronavirus disease.

Chile's study examined Sinovac vaccine's effectiveness among 10.5 million people, looking both at people who had been vaccinated and those who had not. Vaccines were administered approximately 28 days apart.