President Alberto Fernández referred this Wednesday in Chile to the purchase of 22 million Sputnik V vaccines from Russia. “Argentina did not bet on the Russian Sputnik vaccine, what happened was that the Russian Sputnik V vaccine was the first available to Argentina “, said the president during a press conference in Chile, after the Gamaleya Center statement that recognized a delay in the production and provision of vaccines. Argentina was to receive by contract 5 million doses in January and 14.7 million in February.
The President praised the agreement with Russia, because it allowed the country to have vaccines against the coronavirus, and pointed out that he will try to accelerate the shipment of AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccines – whose active ingredient is produced in the country – before April. “We are trying to get order on the vaccine delivery schedule with the Russian Federation, but also insisting that AstraZeneca vaccines start arriving in Argentina and trying to move forward with Sinopharm (from China) for a possible delivery of one million vaccines that could be done quickly, “he said.
Fernández alluded to the claims of the European Union and other regional blocks and countries to the laboratories for the delays in the delivery of doses. “We all suffer from the disorder that exists today with the issue of vaccines. Europe suffers from it, we suffer from it in Latin America,” he said.
The head of state, in the company of his Chilean counterpart, Sebastián Piñera, suggested that both countries could work on “a strategy to get vaccines together.” “Work together for other Latin American countries that have a problem with vaccines, and we can help to get them“, he said in statements collected by the NA Agency.
Fernández was precisely the political intermediary between Russian President Vladimir Putin and several of the region’s leaders. On the Aerolineas plane that will land this Thursday with 220 thousand vaccines there will be an extra 20 thousand destined for Bolivia.
Fernández did not rule out the possibility that both countries assist patients of both nationalities. “We must think of a way to help us not only in interjurisdictional transit, but eventually in the care of those who become ill,” the President insisted.
The Argentine head of state added that the country already has a signed contract with AstraZeneca and that it is studying new agreements, while mentioning the failed negotiations with Pfizer. “Argentina has contracts with AstraZeneca and Oxford, it wanted to have a contract with Pfizer, but due to other circumstances it did not end up agreeing,” he said. Officials’ leaders pointed out that the Government had reached an agreement with the US laboratory to obtain surety insurance, but that Pfizer’s lawyers did not approve of the article of the vaccine law that states that the State would not take over of compensation if negligence is found.
“We are in discussions with Sinopharm in China, we are in conversations with Janssen, and we are in conversations with Moderna. In addition, we entered Covax, where we expect to receive a very important amount of doses for the investment we made,” the President explained in reference to the 9 million doses it will receive from the WHO pool.
“What Argentina did was put cards in all the places where vaccines were made. We did it convinced that any vaccine was going to be a healthy vaccine, because those who were developing it are organizations, in scientific terms, of the first magnitude, “he added.
At the end, Fernández -who celebrated the return of multilateralism implied by the inauguration of the American Joe Biden- insisted that Argentina did not privilege the purchase of Sputnik V over other vaccines. “We are working with everyone, it is not that we chose one. The Sputnik V vaccine is a vaccine that is giving good results in Argentina, which has not generated any contraindication,” he said.
He also played down the questions about the vaccine, which still does not have the endorsement of the WHO. “I was vaccinated with the Russian vaccine, with the Gamaleya vaccine, because I do not mean the English vaccine for the AstraZeneca vaccine. The truth is that up to now we are very happy with the results we are obtaining,” he concluded.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/alberto-fernandezs-turn-argentina-did-not-bet-on-the-russian-sputnik-v-vaccine/
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