They want to vaccinate a million per week in the next phase of the anticovid plan

A million vaccinated per week. This is the aspiration of the national authorities for the short and medium term throughout the country. Of course, the doses promised by the Russians have to arrive first, first, and then by the rest of the pharmaceutical companies with which the government Alberto Fernández has already closed their contracts but who are in a maze due to production, distribution and competition from the great developed powers.

This Sunday, the third Aerolineas Argentinas flight leaves from Ezeiza airport to Moscow. Although it was announced that he would fly yesterday, It took another day and finally on Wednesday he will bring Ezeiza about 600,000 doses of Sputnik V. This is the batch committed by the administration of Vladimir Putin of some 5 million vaccines which, initially, they had said they would arrive in January. In government, they are convinced that the last week of the month this shipment of 600,000 doses and a second shipment that would arrive for next weekend can be completed.

This delay, they argue in La Rosada and also in the Ministry of Health, has several explanations. “Vaccines are lacking in the world and we are no exception”, argues a portfolio official led by Ginés González García. Similarly, the Russian Direct Investment Fund has communicated in recent days to the Argentine government that the 5 million doses committed for January “They were already available.”

Even though the quasi-vaccines purchased in Moscow for January and February (14.7 million additional doses) were already available, there are “neck” which lead the national authorities to be more careful. One is the production: the next two vaccine shipments will arrive from Russia, but from February they are expected to arrive from factories in India and South Korea that make Sputnik. “The Russians also have internal pressures so that their own vaccine is not exported, and they are not easy interlocutors either, they have their own habits and their own time,” said an official with an office in Balcarce 50.

Logistics also add new setbacks. For example, the airline crew that will land at Sheremetyevo airport on Tuesday will find out how many doses they can load there. If DHL and Hellman, the companies that pack and distribute, load them into Thermobox (upon arrival of the first two previous shipments), approximately 600,000 doses can be transported. In refrigerated containers, more than a million doses could fit on each flight. But these containers are a priority for the central countries.

From now on, each federal government will define which group should be given priority

Vaccination plan. Beyond contracts, production and distribution, Argentina faces another major challenge. The marketer called “the greatest vaccination plan in history” will need to demonstrate its effectiveness when vaccines start to arrive in quantity in the short term. If to vaccinate 300,000 doctors and patients with a single dose, it took almost thirty days, the math count would take several months to immunize 85% of the population.

However, the vaccination plan coordinated by the National Ministry of Health with all jurisdictions includes hospitals, vaccinations, schools and assistance from additional staff (from the Nation, more than 10,000 volunteers are added through the Activate program) , as well as the army and security forces. The calculation they make is as follows: if in normal times the country vaccinates around 3 million people per month, with all the resources devoted to the pandemic, this figure would bring that number to more than 4 million. A million Argentines per week.

To achieve this goal, for example, in the province of Buenos Aires, they plan to vaccinate 126,000 people per day, as planned by the Minister of Health, Daniel Gollan, the first Argentinian over 60 to receive the Russian vaccine this week. “We expect the teams to be prepared. They will take the time necessary for the request, for the registration, for the immediate recovery period. We have 126,000 people per day who can potentially be vaccinated in the system ”.

Etapas. According to the vaccination plan, to which PROFILE has accepted, the 51 million doses committed by the various contracts (20 million Sputnik V, 9 million from the Covax fund and 22 million from Astra Zeneca) will be applied in different stages. The first, which is already underway, includes health personnel. The one that will start from next week includes the over 70s. It is monitored by adults aged 60 to 69, the armed forces and security, compromised risk groups between 18 and 59, teaching and non-teaching staff and other populations defined by each jurisdiction.

Who are next to get vaccinated: government analyzes food and transport sectors

It will be each province that will ultimately define whether one group should be protected from another, such as teachers. For example, the administration of Axel Kicillof has planned that this week the vaccination will be launched for the over 60s, groups at risk and teachers and assistants. A nod to the unions who have a strong dispute with the government of Buenos Aires for the return to classes. In the province, a website has been set up to register: it has already exceeded one million Buenos Aires who have expressed their will.

From the port administration, for its part, for the moment they prefer prudence and not to climb into the triumphalism that they exhibit of the Nation. They hope that the announced doses will finally arrive for adults in retirement homes and those over 70 years old. For now, there is no pre-registration, although they specify that they already have everything ready in hospitals and positions that will be added in clubs, government buildings and cultural centers. not