Government to announce purchase of 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccine and another 20 million Moderna

To the more than 69 million COVID vaccines that have already reached Argentinian soil – the figure is made up of acquisitions made by the national state and the rest, by donations from other nations – Two other vaccine purchases will be added from the RNAmessenger platform which will be essential for the advancement of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the country. It will be 20 million vaccines the Pfizer-Biontech scientific partnership and an additional 20 million from the Moderna vaccine

The agreement to purchase vaccines from American laboratories will be concluded this morning, at the Casa Rosada, headed by the chief of staff, Juan Manzur; Minister Carla Vizzotti, Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Beliz, and Jordan schwartz, World Bank director for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, based in Buenos Aires.

The Government, represented by Beliz; and the World Bank, by Jordan Schwartz, They accelerated negotiations to move forward with the granting of a loan of several million dollars to finance the acquisition of the 40 million doses, the largest vaccine supply contract.

As he could know Infobae, the board of directors of the World Bank had planned to meet this afternoon to give the final approval, so that the remittance of the funds is processed quickly. Argentina will allocate these doses of Pfizer and Moderna to ensure the application of the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults as well as adolescents between 13 and 18 years old.

The news of adding vaccines from different platforms is not only relevant because it enriches the portfolio of vaccines available across the country, but also because in this specific case, they are two genomic platform vaccines -RNAmessenger- with which children and adolescents can be inoculated.

In both cases, Pfizer and Moderna received corresponding approvals from leading international regulators (for emergency use), the North American FDA and the European EMA to apply the vaccine to adolescents aged 17. at the age of 12. And the approval of 12 to 5 years is expected soon. The request for emergency use in the United States for this age group will be made “in the coming weeks”, as the firms plan to request the same from European authorities and other regulators.

There is a consensus among expert epidemiologists around the world that vaccinating under-18s and children – the age group even more unprotected because massive vaccination campaigns have not been implemented – will serve to break through the pandemic and achieve fully immunized societies.

The two pharmaceutical companies’ vaccines are the most widely distributed in the world, have been available for adults aged 12 and over in the United States since May, and are the only ones approved for adolescents.

Consulted by Infobae, Omar Tabacco, pediatrician and president of the Argentinian Pediatric Society (SAP) explained: “The FDA has definitively approved the Pfizer vaccine in adults. He is the only one to have reached this condition. It is already safe and effective, we no longer doubt it. Going forward with 12 to 17 seems okay. And then if the same is shown with the under 12s, we must surely also move forward. AIn addition, the collective immunity invoked and for some questioned is obtained with more vaccinated individuals – at least between 70% and 90% -, regardless of age. Otherwise, boys will become the reservoir for the virus. In other words, if all adults are vaccinated and we don’t vaccinate children, then they will be the reservoir for the virus over time. “said the expert.

Genetic platform

All vaccines have the same objective: to train the immune system to recognize the coronavirus and thus to raise its defenses in a preventive manner, in order to neutralize the real virus in the event of contagion.

With that of Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as well as with the vaccine from the American company Moderna, strands of genetic instructions called messenger RNA, that is to say the molecule that tells our cells what to do, are injected into the body. Each cell is a mini-factory of proteins, according to the genetic instructions contained in the DNA of its nucleus.

The vaccine’s messenger RNA is made in the lab, and it’s produced synthetically. Thanks to the vaccine, it is inserted into the body and takes control of this machinery to manufacture specific proteins or antigens of the coronavirus: its “spicules”, these very characteristic points which are on its surface and allow it to adhere to human cells to enter them. them.

These proteins, harmless in themselves, will be released by our cells after receiving instructions for the vaccine, and the immune system in response will produce antibodies. These antibodies will remain on guard for a long time – as expected – with the power to recognize and neutralize the coronavirus in case it infects us. Both vaccines offer two dose administration, are expected to be over 95% effective, and with a protection period of over 6 months to a year, without having to think about a booster or booster shots.

Arrivals and portfolio

During the month of September, Argentina received 580,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine for, according to the strategic plans of various jurisdictions, to be used at the start of immunization schedules favoring 17-year-old adolescents or to supplement immunization schedules with Astrazeneca or also as CABA gave Pfizer as a second dose to those who had expired their period with Sputnik Component 2.

Of the 69,188,425 vaccines received in the country, 28,856,000 correspond to Sinopharm, 14,183,210 belong to Sputnik V (10,125,655 of component 1 and 4,057,555 of component 2) and 3,129,125 to Sputnik V produced in Argentina by the Richmond Laboratory (1,179,625 for the first component, and 1,949,500 for the second).

The AstraZeneca signature corresponds to 18,338,600 doses (580,000 Covishield; 1,944,000 received by the COVAX mechanism, 14,022,600 from AstraZeneca and Oxford, the active ingredient of which was produced in Argentina; 1,242,400 given by the Spain and 549,600 by Canada). Meanwhile, 3,500,000 correspond to doses of Moderna given by the United States, 600,000 to CanSino and 581,490 to Pfizer.

In the next two weeks of October, the arrival of 1.6 million doses of Pfizer per week is expected, which will allow a rapid and priority intensification of vaccination between 12 and 17 years in the coming months.

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