Russian vaccine Sputnik V to arrive in Argentina on December 23

The first doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V against the coronavirus will arrive in Argentina on Wednesday 23 December, as confirmed at Bugle high government sources.

Last Thursday, announcing the signing of the agreement with Russia, President Alberto Fernández predicted that by the end of the year 600,000 doses would arrive, with which 300,000 people could be vaccinated.

However, in recent days the voices that questioned this statement have grown. The problem, besides the logistics, is that everything indicates that the Russian vaccine will work on Argentinian soil without the backing of regulatory bodies from the United States (FDA) and the European Community (EMA).

That’s why Angat officials traveled to Russia to evaluate the vaccine. Typically, it takes a year to a year and a half for the agency to approve a drug, but in this case, they run a authorization for your emergency application.

The envoys went to the Gamaleya Institute on Monday for technical verification of the establishment and the manufacturing processes used in the products.

The signed contract provides that between January and February, 20 million additional doses will arrive and a preference in favor of Argentina to be able to vaccinate 5 million additional people in March.

The official position is that it was important to close this acquisition in case the rest of the vaccines they also have contracts with delay their arrival. In this sense, the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, admitted that the possibility of concluding a purchase agreement with Pfizer is still immature.

“During the negotiation, we were asked for a law to have some security, to give them this immunity, and later, it appeared in the negotiation that this was not enough, that a new law had to be made. and that the contract was not signed by me and signed by President. Strictly speaking, these are unacceptable conditions and we asked them to reveal it, ”said González García of the vaccine developed by the American laboratory.

Asked about the 300,000 doses that were due to arrive before the end of the year, the minister replied: “I cannot say (an exact date), because we are doing everything we said, but unfortunately there are difficult variables such as difficulty with airplanesIt is not something simple, but we want to do it and it is the political will of the president. “

The Gamaleya Center, which develops Sputnik V, claimed to have succeeded in 91.4% efficacy against the coronavirus in 22,000 volunteers and underlined the importance of the contract signed with Argentina to receive the drug.

No unexpected adverse events were identified as part of the investigation, according to a statement. And he adds that the health of the participants will be monitored for at least 6 months after receiving the first vaccine.

AFG