Coronavirus: the first doses of the Russian vaccine l …

At Casa Rosada, they are delighted with a photo: that of President Alberto Fernández receiving the Russian vaccine before Christmas. And the goal does not seem far from being achieved. According to official sources, the government Advanced Today at “health and logistics management “ so that a first batch of Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus are coming 23 december for the country.

They clarified that the Argentine delegation headed by the secretary for access to health, Carla Vizzotti; the presidential advisor, Cecilia Nicolini; and composed of a group of inspectors of Anmat they continued today with the steps in this direction.

In this context, Nicolini reiterated that the results are “very positive and very encouraging” and held that “this gives us many guarantees” for allow it and apply it in Argentina.

“If you are job also in all this what are the logistical aspects, and one big challenge for the first batch of doses to reach Argentina before the end of the year“, he underlined.

“They share all the information with us and everything we need in terms of registry, quality control and technology to finally allow its use in Argentina, and they answered all our questions in this regard, ”explained the advisor.

In this sense, Nicolini reiterated that the purpose of the visit is precisely “to see first-hand the transfer of technology to the factories that will produce it, what is the quality process, and also everything that has to do with the thermostability and the temperature to be maintained “.

The heads of research and development of the Gamaleya Institute presented this week all the progress of the phase 3 clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine, which reached an efficacy of 91.4%.

The sign of the contract

The announcement of the signing of the contract with the Russian Federation coincided with the first anniversary of the presidency of Alberto Fernandez, crossed by the unexpected epidemic of the coronavirus pandemic. “We have subscribed he Contract with him Sovereign Fund of the Russian Federation, which guarantees us the supply of vaccines for Argentina. I would like personally thank President Vladimir Putin, who made sure that we could access the vaccine at the same time as the main countries of the world. We can count on dose for vaccinate 10 million Argentines in January and February“, said the president in a press conference what gave together to the Minister of Health Ginés González García. Doses of Sputnik V, he said, will be received throughout the country according to the needs of each province and the first will be applied to over 60s, teachers, members of the security forces and those affected. of widespread diseases.

The first president explained that the first round of Spuntnik V would arrive in December and it would be 600 thousand doses And, before a journalistic question, he clarified that for a long time the ANMAT has received documentation on the vaccine. But more details were needed: this is why Fernández announced that a group of technicians of this body would travel this week in Russia to find more information “that gives us the certainty that what we buy is what we Argentines should receive”. And they traveled.

Things happened

The problem appeared over the days: the officials traveled and on Russian soil they checked that there was a series of problems which questioned the arrival date of the first doses and the quantity. Health Minister Ginés González García said that could not confirm a first batch of 300,000 vaccines in December“I can not say, because we do everything we said, but unfortunately there is difficult variables such as difficulties with aircraft; it’s not something simple, but we want to do it and it is the political will of the president ”, declared the Minister of Health during the press conference held this Tuesday at noon at the Casa Rosada.

Surrounded by his peers from the province of Buenos Aires, Daniel Gollan, and the city, Fernán Quirós, the official said: “What I can assure you is that the vaccines that arrive will be distributed with absolute equity based on the needs of each province., just like we did from day one; as was done for the other tasks implemented by the Ministry of Health, it will be with vaccines ”.

The good news is that the good news seems to come from Russia. And that it is not impossible that before Christmas, Alberto Fernández can be vaccinated. The president said he would do it in public to reassure those concerned about the effectiveness of Sputnik V.