Use of Pfizer for adolescents is delayed and it would be applied as a second dose of Sputnik V

Most likely, as confirmed by official sources for Bugle, is that adolescents should wait for October have a first puncture. Is this 580,000 vaccines scheduled for September would be intended for second doses of Sputnik V, still missing.

Currently there is a difference of almost 7 million doses between components 1 and 2 delivered to Argentina. This gap could be reduced if Russia authorizes this month the 3 million second doses performed by the Argentinian laboratory Richmond.

According to the delivery schedule provided by Pfizer, it is expected that during the last quarter of the year the delivery of the 19.5 million doses announced and pre-arranged with the American laboratory. Within this framework, approximately 6 million would arrive in October, 6 million in November and the difference in December.

According to the sources consulted, the Federal Health Council (Cofesa) has decided that each of the 24 jurisdictions be in charge of defining the purpose of Pfizer vaccines: to apply them as a second component of Sputnik V to supplement heterologous schedules or to use it to advance the vaccination of 17 year old adolescents without comorbidities.

In the city of Buenos Aires, for example, the enrollment of children under 17 without comorbidity is not yet open. As explained at Bugle, this opening is expected when more progress is made with the application of the second doses in the elderly.

Today, only minors with priority conditions can register, who have received doses of Moderna. As reported by the Buenos Aires Health Portfolio, of the 20,000 registered in the district a small proportion remains to be vaccinated, and very few new ones sign up.

In the city, they have also confirmed that they expect to receive the first batch of Pfizer to September 10. And it will not be applied in boys, as it will be intended to complement the regimens of adults who have received the first dose of Sputnik V.

From the health portfolio, they justified the decision by the fact that the doses of Pfizer will be “a small amount of doses and will use them in adolescents. would generate more expectations of what can be approached. “They estimate that the first batch would hit them around 30 thousand.

“In October, we’ll probably start with teens without co-morbidities. During the month of September, we will receive very few, almost 30,000, ”said Minister Fernán Quirós, questioned by Bugle.

In the province of Buenos Aires, the inscription for coronavirus vaccination is open to age groups between 12 and 17 years old, But for now, only people with comorbidities are immune.

The group of 18 can be seeded with general patterns. “The rest of the teams will be assigned when we have the vaccines,” they specify from the Ministry of Health. Already just over 700,000 boys enrolled without priority conditions.

“It is not yet decided whether the doses of Pfizer we are receiving in September will go to 17 year olds. Probably not. The other possibility is that they are used to complement heterologous patterns. There is still a percentage of uncertainty related to the schedules. When we are clear about them, the order will be set and what comes first, ”Health Minister Nicolás Kreplak told Clarin.

The official added: “This arrangement will depend on the number and arrival date of shipments from Pfizer. This is still under discussion and both options are open and possible”.

The biggest problem, authorities argue, is that the meager amount of doses to be distributed this month will not be enough to immunize all 17-year-olds. For this reason, from the Ministry of Health, they consider the possibility that they will be used in another priority group.

“Vaccinate such a small percentage it will not have a great epidemiological effect and that can add operational problems and confusion to society, ”Kreplak considers.

“If the country receives 6 million doses and the Province has two and a half million, it is possible to start with this age group all together, it will not be necessary to divide it and the shifts can be allocated. in a massive way, ”they said. forecasts of the largest district in the country.

Rossana Chahla, Minister of Health of Tucumán, said Bugle: “Considering the number of Pfizer vaccines that we will receive in September, it is very likely that they will be used as second file of Sputnik V. When we have the vaccines for the 12 to 17 age group, we will open the registration and assign the shifts at the same time, as we did with the over 18s ”.

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