From urgent rescuer to uncertain end with a Russian nod to Argentina

This week could be the key. Next Wednesday, the Pan American Health Organization will hold its traditional press conference and – if the WHO does not rule before – it will have to respond if what the Russian Minister of Health said on Saturday is true. That is, if there is only administrative details for the world health body to endorse Sputnik V.

In the last few hours, Russia has added another detail to this good omen, by means of a New tweet which sounds like a nod to Argentines: “Mutual recognition of vaccination certificates is the first step towards mutual recognition of vaccines. Minister of Health M. Murashko met in Geneva with the United States and others on the recognition of travel certificates: “This is the start of a constructive dialogue” ”.

The tweet has a first version in English and two hours later it had its response in Spanish, accompanied by a photo in which a cell phone shows a Argentinian Covid-19 vaccination certificate, dated Avellaneda. It is curious that the date is December 21, 2020, when the first batch of Sputnik V had not yet arrived in the country.

Beyond the detail of the colors, the letter seems dedicated to Argentina, although it is only one of the 70 countries that today they are applying the vaccine. Gesture intervenes in a context of electoral pressure for the Government, which requires, among other things, the Russian cooperation to alleviate social discontent in the face of one of the weaknesses of the national vaccination operation.

The manner in which the Russian Direct Investment Fund handled Mikhail Murashko’s comments is striking. After a brief first dispatch to the press on Saturday, he added this Sunday some clues about what do these minor procedures that remain. According to spokespersons, the official said that “the applicant company should sign papers and provide a series of Additional documents. Then the request would be examined during an administrative procedure ”.

As for the possible times, he did not abound. There was also no clarification on the interlocutors. From what these tweets say, we’d be the Director-General of WHO himself, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, although he did not confirm or deny what Murashko said. About the other, it was not specified which official of the United States would have shared the conversation in Geneva.

Hope and hope

there is almost 11 million Argentines who has already received the first Russian dose and wait. Many, the second dose. Others, to determine if the vaccine they have received will serve as a immune passport. It depends on what the WHO is doing. On November 1, a new rule for entering the United States will come into effect, and the fate of those with Sputnik depends on that decision.

If Murashko’s optimistic words are confirmed, it would be the end of a road to ten painful months for the Argentine government, from the moment when, pushed by the delays of AstraZeneca and the fight with Pfizer, it decided to buy the vaccine which guaranteed immediately start immunizing health workers and part of the most vulnerable population.

Vladimir Putin’s untimely hospitality was the hook ante el fracaso de los planes A y B. Sin fecha cierta para el desembarco de la vacuna altruista de Oxford, y enredado en el rechazo a exigencias supuestamente inaceptables del laboratorio estadounidense -que ocho meses después aceptaría- se apostó por la redención inmunitaria What offered by the Gamaleya Institute, neglecting one detail: it was a vaccine with two different components, of which only the first was available.

This was known from the start, so much so that Russia immediately launched, almost in parallel with Sputnik V, Sputnik light, as an alternative to the export of drugs. But the government has sought to reverse the burden of proof and designate as anti-vaccine or saboteur of the national operation those who have marked some weaknesses of the chosen health bet.

The government’s first arrest took place in early 2021, when it decided to use the Russian vaccine without published phase 3 trial nor validated by independent scientists. Then, with “The Monday Newspaper” – when this procedure was completed – President Alberto Fernández declared that he had been accused of wanting to poison Argentines.

The second question was due to the arbitrary disposition of postpone the application of the second dose under the argument that it was better from an immune point of view, when in fact it was a material need due to Russia’s difficulty in producing the second component of Sputnik V.

Meanwhile, local scientific research has sought to strengthen this policy. They claimed, for example, that convalescent patients vaccinated with the first component had as much or more immunity than those who had not had Covid and, instead, received the full diet. For some undeclared reason, these articles have focused only on Sputnik V.

At the same time, Brazil has cast doubt on the Russian vaccine: the national drug agency Anvisa warned of indications that the virus carrying adenovirus 5 -component 2- was not inactive and therefore could multiply dangerously in people with weakened immune systems. The Sputnik V vaccination ended there between April and June.

The third interrogation began when the doors to the world closed on Sputnik V: the World Health Organization withdrawn from russian vaccine, for which major health agencies around the world have not approved it and the alert has been raised for a possible transnational stocks. The Argentine government’s response has been that vaccines should save lives, not travel.

In this context of lack of international endorsement, there is a paradoxical situation. While the WHO does not yet recognize the production of the Gamaleya Institute, for Argentina this center is control referencebecause it reviews the batches produced by the Richmond laboratory. That is, they receive approval from professionals whose work has not been approved by WHO.

Last Thursday, a new episode was added to the Sputnik saga, when we knew that 1.3 million second doses they had to be sent back to Russia because of a “labeling error”. The government sought to minimize the problem, despite the fact that it was 32 percent of all second components received.

According to the director of the site that published this news, Periodismo y Punto, the government first tried vague arguments, until reaching the final decision “Labeling error”, whose fidelity to reality is ultimately a matter of faith, depending on the confidence aroused by the official narrative.

Some scientific observers saw in this setback a sample of what the WHO had questioned the producers of Sputnik V: weaknesses in traceability in the packing process. No one has indicated precisely what the labeling problem was that once again orphaned many Argentines in the second installment.

Bugle spoke with experts who considered it unlikely that the return of vaccines to Russia was due only to incorrect information on the label. The position of those consulted is that there must have been something more relevant than just a printing sheet. Anyway, another episode consistent with the opacity of the saga, and the consolidation of a certainty: Sputnik V will continue in its labyrinth until the WHO proves otherwise.

PS