Argentina will receive more than 2.2 million vaccines from the WHO Covax fund – Telam

El fondo Covax -mecanismo multilateral impulsado por la OMS para buscar una distribución equitativa de las vacunas en el mundo- asignó a la Argentina más de 2,2 millones de dosis del fármaco elaborado por Oxford-AstraZeneca contra el coronavirus que llegarían al país from February, provided it is approved by the agency and the manufacturer delivers the committed quantity.

These vaccines will be added to those already purchased by the Argentine government from other laboratories, including the Gamaleya Institute in Russia, producer of Sputnik V, already applied throughout the country.

The document, published by Covax, provided an “indicative allocation” and stressed that final figures will be available once the World Health Organization (WHO) defines vaccine incorporation AstraZeneca to the Emergency Use List (EUL), in addition to the manufacturer that delivers the committed doses.

These vaccines will be in addition to those already purchased by the government from other laboratories“

With these exceptions, Covax set an indicative initial allocation for Argentina of 2,275,200 doses that would begin distribution from February with the following pattern: 15 percent available in the first quarter and 56 percent available in the second quarter , while “additional supply is expected for the second half of the year.”

This allocation is based on the 96 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that the manufacturer has promised to deliver to Covax, which in turn is to be distributed to all countries.

“In this sense, it is likely that the distribution will have to adjust in light of circumstances difficult to anticipate and constantly changing variables,” the document warns.

The allocation also included a total of 240 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine licensed to the Serum Institute of India (SII) and 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. already authorized by WHO for emergency use.

“The total doses cover, on average, 3.3% of the total population of the 145 participants who receive doses from at least one manufacturer,” the document notes.

He also warned that “this is in line with the mechanism’s goal of reaching at least 3% of the population in all countries in the first half of the year, enough to protect the most vulnerable groups such as health workers.”

In Argentina, the health ministry said the deal with Covax includes 9 million doses, of which 2.2 million would be part of a first delivery.

Distribution in Latin America

Regionally, Latin America will receive more than 31 million doses of vaccines from the Covax system, although experts stress that it is necessary to take into account the limitations of global production that are currently evident and which have given rise to to the claims of several countries. in Europe.

Those responsible for the Covax initiative said that almost all of the doses it expects to deliver in this initial phase come from the vaccine from the Swedish-British laboratory AstraZeneca and its Indian partner, the Serum Instituteand for the Latin American region, it is planned to distribute 31,890,110 doses.

In the case of Astrazeneca vaccines manufactured in India, it is estimated that deliveries will start at the end of February and reach the countries indicated between 35% and 40% in the first quarter of the year and the remaining 60 or 65%, in the second quarter, although that “subject to the ability to provide manufacturing and compliance with the prerequisites”, according to the statement released by the WHO.

Por otra parte, las dosis de ese laboratorio no producidas en ese país asiático, entre ellas las que están asignadas a Argentina, llegarían a 15% en el primer trimester, a 56% en el segundo y el resto a lo largo de la segunda mitad of the year.

Finally, vaccines from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-BioNTech will arrive in the first quarter of the year, although confirmation is still awaited since this company has announced delays in their production.

Under these conditions, Covax awarded Bolivia 992,430 doses in total, of which 900,000 correspond to AstraZeneca and 92,430 to Pfizer-BioNTech.

BrazilDuring this time, they will receive a total of 10,672,800 doses, all from Astrazeneca and with distribution conditions similar to Argentina, as well as Mexico (6,472,800 doses), Colombia (2,553,600 ) and Chile (957,600).

Peru committed a total of 1,770,600 doses, of which 117,000 correspond to Pfizer-BioNtech and the rest to Astrazeneca manufactured in India.

Other countries in the region that will receive doses under the Covax agreement are Uruguay, where 172,800 doses will arrive, Paraguay where will be 357,600, Ecuador 885,600 and Venezuela 1,425,600.

Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador and Peru, after being selected by an independent committee based on criteria of pandemic risk, impact and death rate, will receive a total of 377,910 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine above their planned allocated quota. -February, subject to supply agreements.