of multinational companies looking to bring vaccines from the United States to their staff

Representatives of at least 9 multinational companies they asked for details on the possibility to vaccinate to employees in private against the coronavirus.

It was during a summit with leaders of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Argentina (Amcham), where they asked that this institution be the one that will forward this request to the national government.

The meeting was Monday, via videoconference, and at the same time, human resources representatives from several of the country’s largest companies – some Amcham partners and others not – discussed the possibility of acquire doses in private.

He was after Chief of Staff Santiago Cafiero It will allow this path by specifying that the law 27,573 voted by Congress on vaccines allows other actors to buy them, whether they are subnational states (governorates) or representatives of private companies.

In the midst of the second wave of infections, the Meet in just a few hours.

the Friday was summoned and carried out on MondayAs a result, only nine multinational companies were represented.

“If he was armed with more time, it would be a lot more,” says a commercial source, who assures that if finally the private sector can access the purchase of vaccines, the support for this chance would be massive from the government. sector.

The meeting discussed the viability of short-term dose acquisition.

It has been reported, on this subject, that the laboratories with which it could be negotiated by Amcham son Pfizer and Janssen, which produces the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which in the past few hours has shut down the United States due to possible side effects.

But from the House, they put cold rags, explaining during the meeting that, beyond what Cafiero said, the law only includes the public sector in the purchase of doses, with the prior authorization from Angat.

However, it was agreed to send more information on the topic later this week.

“Without a government DNU that formally allows it, it is impossible today to go to the market to buy,” said a source consulted by Bugle.

Also, explain that for the moment no stock available market to other types of actors that are not nation states.

From the local headquarters of the United States Chamber of Commerce They maintain a regular dialogue with officials of the Ministry of Health, but expect further progress in future negotiations. They are looking for a meeting with Sonia Tarragona, the portfolio chief of staff who replaced Lisandro Bonelli after the VIP vaccination scandal that led to the resignation of then minister Ginés González García and Lisandro Bonelli, his nephew.

In the business sector, there is a broad support for the possibility of purchasing vaccines privately.

“If they are authorized, there are companies ready to guarantee 100 doses to the State for 100 employees authorized to vaccinate”, explains another source in the sector, which assesses in figures the relevance of being able to vaccinate an entire work team. .

“They are bought at twenty, thirty or fifty dollars a dose, as the case may be. For a multinational, it is an investment that it can make, because it would allow it to incorporate its employees in the short term. Everything is profit. ,” he says.

Executive vaccines

Many companies across the country, they say, they travel to the United States to its main officials so that they can be vaccinated.

“Today they are doing it with the first lines, then they will do it with managers and small positions, and so it will continue”, say those close to companies who, to accelerate the return to work of their staff, and following Argentina’s slow vaccination rate, are taking this step to cover themselves.

The possibility of private access to vaccines has been discussed since March, when Bugle has anticipated strong negotiations in the pharmacies, laboratories and drugstores sector so that this possibility is made easier for them and they can market them.

Later, formal demands were added at the legislative level of the opposition, with a bill presented by radical deputies Alfredo Cornejo and Luis Petri, and later it was Patricia Bullrich, leader of the PRO, who spoke of the need to incorporate other actors in the purchase of the doses to be distributed.

Faced with the second wave of infections, it was the Chief of Staff Santiago Cafiero himself who assured that “Provinces, like the city of Buenos Aires, and the private sector can buy vaccines on their own”, since they are therefore authorized by law 27.573.

However, the official said that today there is no stock and the laboratories only sell to countries.