Argentina only vaccinates a third of the global average per day and the gap is widening

The vaccination against the coronavirus, already passed the first month of 2021, confirms a presumption that since December Argentina has tried to exorcise: postponement of South America, in particular, and peripheral countries in general. In the region, only Brazil and Chile have so far managed to reach a solid amount and palpable dose so that your vaccination campaigns are not testimonial or political, but truly sanitary.

Argentina have not yet been able to join this squad which, at the end of February, would also include Colombia. The average daily vaccination against Covid-19 in our country means today one third of the world index: 0.06 vaccinated per hundred inhabitants in the world, against 0.02 in Argentina.

The local proportion represents, on January 30, approximately 9,000 people vaccinated every 24 hours, according to official information compiled by the Our World in Data website. At this rate, it would take about 13 years to vaccinate all Argentines.

Obviously, this cannot happen. The supply of new batches of vaccines mainly from the laboratory AstraZeneca, plus those provided by the global solidarity mechanism Covax, it could make a difference in avoiding this huge and ridiculous delay. To that would be added what ultimately happens to Ezeiza from the hitherto unpredictable Russian cast.

The world is getting vaccinated today 4,200,000 people per day. However, the imbalances are obvious: Israel is inoculating 200,000 people per day and this represents 2 inhabitants out of 100; The United States has an index of 0.4, which implies for this country close to 1,300,000 people every 24 hours.

If Argentina got vaccinated at the rate of the United States, for example, it would hardly take 587 days to vaccinate its entire population. In other words, less than two years old, provided that the vaccines available are also approved for those under 18.

The Argentine government has achieved its initial goal of having the first doses against the coronavirus before the end of 2020. These 300 thousand vaccines coming from Russia allowed the country to be one of the few to start its campaign before December 31.

However, the alleged production problems of Sputnik V, added to the eternal and so far unsuccessful negotiations with Pfizer and China, caused a brake at the national level.

AstraZeneca’s conflicts in Europe due to the lack of timely delivery of doses, moreover, set a rather favorable precedent for what can happen with the 22.4 million doses that this laboratory is engaged in Argentina in the course of 2021, of which the first batch of 1.2 million should arrive in March.

Brazil started vaccinating after Argentina, but at a much higher rate. In terms of its population, the country ruled by Jair Bolsonaro (one of the biggest deniers of the pandemic) inoculate 5 more times: 0.10 inhabitants per 100, against 0.02 in the country ruled by Alberto Fernández (one of the leaders of isolation).

For its part, Chile begins this week with the application of four million doses bought from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, after obtaining a first batch (testimony) from Pfizer. This will soon put the Trans-Andean neighbors also above Argentina in the vaccination rate.

Compared to Europe, countries like France, Italy, Germany and Spain apply between 6 and 7 times more vaccines per number of inhabitants than Argentina. In the UK, the speed of vaccination is 28 times faster. In contrast, the South American reality is at levels similar to that of Argentina, except in the cases mentioned.

The delay in the delivery of a greater quantity of doses of Sputnik V implies a double cost for our country: not only to have a lower firepower against Covid, but also that the scarcity of the ammunition obtained took away a key capital in terms of public health: the confidence that inspires transparency.

The benefits of the December “peak” still have their weight in the total number of vaccinated in the country. In this provisional assessment, the distance to the world is not so great: 0.81 vaccinated per 100 Argentines, against 1.21 in total. But the game is long and that Rush initial can become ephemeral.

The largest number of coronavirus vaccines given today the countries of the heart, who despite their own setbacks still leave for the championship. Such voracity that the WHO should have already lifted its rigorous alert in this regard. In this context, Argentina has stagnated in the rather low part of the table, due to the number of vaccinated citizens, and its urgent challenge is to try to avoid the relegation zone.

PS