chronicle of a day of marches and risers

It is 10:55 a.m. on Thursday, December 17. The message from the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, growls loudly at Casa Rosada, where officials around Alberto Fernández have strived to be the secretary for access to health, Carla Vizzotti, which puts into perspective the president’s remarks that the Sputnik V vaccine cannot be used for people over 60 and gives guarantees that the roadmap remains the same. The request has a certain logic: the manager who commanded the health zone during the pandemic is in Moscow, where he finalizes the details of an Aerolineas Argentinas plane to load 300,000 vaccines and arrive next Wednesday, approaching Christmas, to deliver a symbolic message after a year of terror.

But A moment later, on the first floor of Government House, a large group of journalists approach a senior official, extremely confident in Alberto Fernández, who assures us that after the unexpected controversy aroused by Putin’s remarks, the government has frozen the flight plan that will bring the vaccine. “Until approved for use in those over 60, the vaccine does not come and the state will not pay a single peso», He assures, words more, words less, firmly, in order to dispel the doubts about the transparency that the government intends to give to the purchase.

The point is that his statements, strictly speaking off the record, involve a change of plans. The reasoning is this: if the vaccine does not reach Argentina until it is approved by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) use in people over 60 years oldThis will not happen until at least December 30, a date fixed -for example- on Radio 10 by the Minister of Health of Buenos Aires, Daniel Gollan, when he declared that it is only then “that the conclusions “of the” study on adults “.

At the same time, Vizzotti, still from Moscow, had avoided giving dates and confined himself to specifying that “they are finishing the last stages”. Official reports minute by minute, with the presidential adviser – and companion of the entourage – Cecilia Nicolini, no less than Alberto F. himself and the chief of staff, Santiago Cafiero. The information he sends is therefore that which distributes the bulk of the network of civil servants headed by Fernández’s management.

In short, he has the endorsement of being the one coming from the scene of events. Even for this reason, at Balcarce 50 they place him above the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, who, in his role as head of the region, should have the final say.

But, as he said Bugle months ago, criticism for his style of communication accumulated at Casa Rosada and strained the climate around his figure. The criticism started with the mess of the presidential vaccine announcement he made in August, but it has never stopped.

In the final hours, he was questioned when he told a press conference that there were “difficulties with the planes” which hampered the arrival of the Russian vaccine, while Aerolineas Argentinas I had already booked a flight to Moscow to bring 600 thousand doses before Christmas. We also hear versions – from within the power – which open questions on their position in the negotiations with the Pfizer laboratory.

But no one can attribute to him the marches and counter-marches that still persist in the government. It happens that this official, in the top 3 of the extreme confidence of Fernández, who at 10.55 declared that Argentina will only bring the vaccine when it has been approved for use also in the over 60s years, insists with the same position. Despite the fact that in the middle, in the face of uncertainty, from Moscow, The government delegation has again confirmed that the flight to Ezeiza will arrive on December 23 Therefore, another group of senior officials took the initiative to deny the news that the flight plan had been postponed. Finally, after 4 p.m., the presidential spokesperson, Juan Pablo Biondi, dispelled doubts and confirmed that he “followed the initial plan” to bring the vaccine. In other words, absent another unforeseen event, an Airbus 330 AA will depart on December 22 and return after a brief four-hour layover in Moscow.

After so many marches and counter-marches, no one dares to say that the intention is to start implementing it on December 28.

PDL