Financial Times: Argentinians angered by vaccination delays and another lockdown hurting the economy

This time it wasn’t the negotiations with the IMF and the Paris Club or the suspension of meat exports. The Financial Times, one of the most influential publications in global economic and financial circles, today devoted a lengthy article to the broken promises of Alberto Fernandez with vaccines, including the Pfizer affair, and the anger they arouse in the population and the damage done to an economy already battered by new restrictions imposed by the government to contain the progress of the coronavirus pandemic.

The article, signed by correspondent Benedict Mander, recalls that shortly after one of the longest and strictest quarantines in the world, Fernández promised in December that by the end of February there would already be 10 million Argentines vaccinated and that three months later the promise was still not kept: only 9 million of the 45 million Argentines were vaccinated, of which 2.5 million received both doses. A faster vaccination could have avoided one of the highest daily death rates in the world, as the second wave took hold.

The fact is that Now the country is once again confined to battling a sharp rise in cases, which has reached new highs as winter approaches and the Brazilian and UK variants of the virus spread.

The new quarantine puts pressure on public finances, already stretched to the limit, to fight against a recession which has lasted for 3 years and which has worsened a poisoned political environment full of recriminations around vaccination.

The British publication recalls that the president has brought a libel action against Patricia bullrich, chairman of one of the opposition alliance parties, who insinuated that the government was seeking bribes from Pfizer to allow it to enter the market, and Bullrich replied that- beyond the request, “the vaccines have not yet arrived and you have not explained why this agreement was not signed for the supply of more than 13 million vaccines which could have saved” thousands of lives “, despite Argentina having a sourcing priority for hosting Pfizer’s clinical trials in 2020, which said in a statement that has not received requests for bribes or the use of intermediaries in the country.

Not just Pfizer

In addition to Pfizer, says the FT, The promises of a joint venture with Mexico to locally produce the AstraZeneca vaccine also failed to materialize, due to delays in the supply of the vials, so the first batch of vaccine did not arrive until the next day. last week. Russia has also delayed the arrival of its vaccines, but still Sputnik V, the article says, explains 15 million of the vaccinations done so far, and most of the remaining 4 million is mainly due to Chinese Sinopharm.

All of this led to accusations from the opposition that Fernández’s “left” government was courting Moscow and Beijing for ideological and geopolitical reasons.

The radical Adolfo rubinstein He is quoted in the note as saying Argentina is still better than some neighbors in the vaccine race, but the official “triumphalism” has raised expectations too high. “They have taken the vaccination campaign to epic proportions and not only have failed to comply with it, but the corruption scandals have eroded social trust and angered many people,” the former minister said. Government health at FT. Mauricio Macri.

Without taking this into consideration, the FT displays two graphs on the dynamics of the pandemic in the country, by number of deaths and cases, and another on the vaccination campaign.

The note recalls in this regard that the former minister of the region (Ginés González García) was sacked in February following the vaccination of government-linked “VIPs”.

A toxic atmosphere now makes it difficult for the government to convince citizens to respect the lockdown, especially after the official decision to host the America’s Cup in June, a move, according to the FT, which has sparked “outrage” .

Specialists

British media also cite two other specialists. Hugo Pizzi, An infectious disease specialist from the University of Córdoba, says there are only two ways to control the pandemic: discipline to obey measures to prevent the circulation of the virus and vaccination. And that an early arrival of vaccines would be the most promising solution, given the low compliance with the new restrictions.

As, Javier Farina, another infectious disease specialist and government adviser, warns that the winter will be harsh if quarantine is not accepted by society, although he hopes that by August half of Argentines will have received at least their first dose of vaccination, against the fifth current. According to Farina, “if we look only at the issue of health, the containment measures should be extended”, but the economy is weighing heavily and the government will take this into account.

One of the problems, according to Rubinstein, is that although Argentinians stayed within the initial quarantine and the president’s popularity was very high at first, they were exhausted. And “midlife fatigue” is mixed with confused government signs and the economy’s great informality, which means many Argentines have to work to pay the bills.

Demographics have made the problem worse, because – the article explains – Argentina has an older population and more vulnerable to the disease than other Latin American countries. The Brazilian and British variants are now contributing to the increase in the number of cases, even if, according to Pizzi, the country is not “significantly worse” than many of its neighbors, in one of the most affected regions in the world.

“In Paraguay, people donate chairs so people can sit in hospital patios and in Ecuador and Peru corpses have piled up in the streets,” Pizzi told FT. “Here we are not so bad.”

KEEP READING: