how come Moderna has “slipped” and what happens to Pfizer after the DNU

Almost one year of negotiation it has already passed between the government and Pfizer. Eight months since the approval of the vaccine law, which did not comply with the laboratory. Now after the changes he made by decree President Alberto Fernández, the scenario would be favorable to the continuation of the contract. Yet in the middle Modern “slipped”.

The chief of staff, Santiago Cafiero, surprised the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday by announcing that next Monday will sign a contract with this laboratory, also American, while all the attention has focused on the question of whether, after the government’s DNU, the signing of the agreement with Pfizer.

Cafiero said Moderna is “great news” as it “grows pediatric vaccines”. Two caveats should be made about this vaccine. So far, the government has not reported that the lab has submitted its protocol to ANMAT for approval. Bugle He consulted the health entity and the Ministry of Health on this matter, but did not receive a response.

This means that the government would sign a contract for a vaccine that not yet authorized in the country. This is a real contrast to what is happening with Johnson & Johnson: he presented the protocol to ANMAT last December and it has not yet been approved. The last official response was that information is still being requested from the lab.

On the other hand, Moderna’s vaccine is not yet licensed for pediatric use anywhere. Subject must end must be reviewed by the FDA in the USA. The only pediatric vaccine approved in the Western world, aged 12 to 17, comes from Pfizer. In China, Sinopharm was also licensed, between 3 and 17 years old.

It was no coincidence that the chief of staff mentioned Moderna as a potential pediatric vaccine that Argentina could count on. Families of boys with co-morbidities claim the Pfizer vaccine and they have already said that they do not want their children to apply Sinopharm because they already have enough with what they are suffering to be “guinea pigs” too.

It has to be seen if Moderna can drag the mark. In the meantime, neither the government nor Pfizer is giving any indication of the progress of a deal. “Negotiations are still open,” sources from the laboratory said Thursday. The secrecy of the official and commercial sectors is total.

However, Moderna’s decision would also allow the government to support the argument that the signing of the DNU it was not a surrender in front of the company Pfizer, as some sympathizers of the party in power can interpret it. Or at least not an “exclusive” surrender. In other words, the decree allows other actors to also join as potential suppliers of vaccines in Argentina.

It’s like the player who goes from Boca to River, or from River to Boca, before playing a season at another club. Politically, the government’s account also agrees “Strain” the least expected contract, which cushion the subsequent and final submission to the “bad guy”.

PS