The Auditor General of the Nation puts the magnifying glass on the purchase and distribution of vaccines

The Office of the Auditor General of the Nation has started the process of analyzing and investigating vaccine purchase contracts made by the Argentine State to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

By order of the Nation’s Auditor, Jesús Rodríguez, the organization studies the process of purchasing and distributing vaccines. “Two audits are already underway”, highlighted Infobae.

“We refer to the contracts that have been signed, that it is an obligation imposed by law which has been approved for the purchase of vaccines. The second refers to the distribution process and its subsequent application as established by the vaccination plan, ”added the president of AGN.

Of the two inquiries, the one on contracts is already underway. “There are five vaccine purchase contracts for a total of $ 380 million.” In this work, the purchase of vaccines is studied Sputnik, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Covishield and the World Health Organization fund Covax.

Based on this, Rodríguez explained that he sent the auditors a 50 point document, which he said should be taken into account during the analysis.

“One of the contracts analyzed is that of Covax, where Argentina could have bought 15 million doses but decided to acquire a much smaller quantity. It is not a crime, it is a political decision which must be explained anyway, ”he stressed.

In the midst of this investigation, Rodríguez met a few days ago, on May 21, with representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) that monitor the acquisition and distribution of vaccines to prevent COVID-19.

Participants in the meeting, which was held by videoconference, Citizen Power, Civil Association for Equality and Justice ACIJ, Foundation for Sustainable Policy Development (FUNDEPS), Democracy in Network, Guest Foundation, Collective Action, Federal Network of the Right to the Health, School of Prosecutors, Legislative Directory, Amnesty International, AVINA Foundation, Group of Foundations and Businesses, Open Knowledge, Center for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC ), Argentine Northwest Lawyers in Human Rights and Social Studies (AND IT IS).

There, the AGN president said: “We are faced with an issue of great sensitivity and social impact.” And he reported that he had sent a proposal to the members of the College of Auditors General with 50 points to consider for auditing the vaccine purchase contracts and their distribution process through the Strategic Plan for Vaccination against COVID-19. . In addition, he added that the College of Auditors had approved the inclusion in the 2021 plan of these two audits.

“The results will be in the next few months”, responded to the request of Infobae regarding deadlines. Timing is a point to be taken into account in the investigation process since the auditors analyze why the government in certain contracts, in particular that of AstraZéneca, has transferred funds and so far it has not received the promised doses. .

On the organizational side, Rodríguez was invited “to participate in the planning and determination of the purpose and scope of the audits to be carried out, in particular the one carried out on the Strategic Plan for Vaccination against COVID-19”.

In the middle of it The government has announced that as part of the COVID-19 Vaccination Strategic Plan, it will complete the distribution of 2,684,600 vaccines to all jurisdictions this week in record work. Esa cifra se alcanzará luego que entre este viernes y sábado las provincias y la ciudad de Buenos Aires reciban 400.200 dosis más del componente 1 de Sputnik V, 80.100 dosis del componente 2 y 600.100 de AstraZeneca obtenidas a través del mecanismo COVAX de la Mundial de la Organización health.

Until the morning of May 28, according to data from the Public Vaccination Monitor, the online registry that shows the vaccination operation in real time throughout Argentina, 14,264,154 vaccines were distributed, of which 11,676,733 have already been applied: 9,084,600 people received the first dose and 2,592,133 both.

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