Coronavirus: 24 million Argentinian vaccines in limbo

Alberto Fernandez He is right to warn that the second wave of the pandemic is fast approaching and that 75% of the vaccines administered so far have been in rich countries. The president’s concern over the widespread vaccine shortage and Russia’s arrival of Sputnik V is legitimate, but in this case Alberto Fernández seems to have forgotten that Argentina has 24 million doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine – produced jointly with Mexico – suspended in a kind of limbo.

The blue dollar is falling: why aren’t the prices going down?

The deal to produce the vaccine for Latin America approved by the University of Oxford has been announced with great fanfare and its delivery date has been set for early this month, but so far not a single Argentinian or Mexican has not been immunized with the promised product. by two of the great magnates of the two countries.

Behind the commercial intrigue is the Mexican Carlos Slim, the fifth richest man in the world, and the much lesser known Hugo Sigman, the Argentinian owner of a pharmacological empire that stretches from Vietnam to Barcelona, ​​from Morocco to Paraguay. , from Russia to Argentine Patagonia.

On January 18, the first of four shipments of raw materials left Ezeiza to produce 24 million doses which had to be divided and packaged in Mexico. However, Mexicans had problems with some essential supplies – such as filters, sterile bags, and vials that the United States refused to sell. This forced Argentina and Mexico to simultaneously purchase the Cobisheld vaccine, which is the Indian version of the vaccine that the Slim & Sigman duo cannot package.

At the end of February, Alberto Fernández, accompanied by Hugo Sigman, visited the Mexican plant, but did not obtain a firm commitment as to the delivery date.

In addition: Once the first batch is produced, it must remain between three and four weeks in the Aztec country for its stabilization before passing the quality controls. Being very optimistic, the first batch could arrive in Argentina in May and it may be too late for many people.

Faced with the only possibility of yet another non-compliance, Argentina should have adopted a contingency plan, until Mexico could guarantee the full production cycle.

If we are serious about stopping the second wave, the first step would be to suspend the country’s release of the antigen produced at the Garin plant, in the same way that Italy and other European countries have banned the export. to Australia and other countries of AstraZeneca Vaccines until the company guarantees internal supply.

If we want to stop the second wave, it is imperative to fractionate and package the antigen produced in the Sigman factory in Garín, Argentina. It is wrong – as some lobbyists in the pharmaceutical sector argue – that this process cannot be carried out in Argentina. Not only are there state laboratories such as the Blood Products Laboratory of the National University of Cordoba that could cope with this task, but the author of this note is aware that three private companies have made presentations to the government. offering their facilities to complete the process, but never received a response. At the same time, Hugo Sigman has entered into a strange silence and is not granting interviews to provide his version of this failed operation which has put millions of people in danger of death.

Limbo, according to the Bible, is the place where the lost souls of ancient patriarchs and holiness will await the salvation of mankind, twenty-four million vaccines stuck in limbo should remind us that whoever saves one man, saves all of humanity.

* Editor of the Telegram news channel “Pandemics and Vaccines”