Three million vaccines of S …

The national government on Wednesday signed a contract with Sinopharm for the arrival of 3 million doses. According to official sources, it is estimated that coronavirus vaccines from China will arrive in the country as early as next week. We are working on the logistical details to define the precise date of arrival.

This is the third shipment that will arrive from the Asian country, after a first Aerolineas Argentinas flight that landed at Ezeiza international airport on February 25 with 904 thousand doses and a second that arrived in the country on February 28 with 96 thousand additional doses.

President Alberto Fernández anticipated in a television interview last Monday that a new deal with Sinopharm was imminent. In this report, he also claimed to have succeeded “with the Russian Federation in fixing a delivery schedule that allows us to have vaccines every week”, so that the vaccination campaign is expected to be Argentina can finally accelerate its pace.

The vaccine developed by Sinopharm in collaboration with the laboratory of the Beijing Institute of Biologics of the People’s Republic of China received emergency clearance in Argentina on February 20, after the National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) recommended the national health portfolio to take the legally required action on vaccines (27,573). For now, just is approved for people up to 60 years old.

In the Asian country, for its part, the qualification took place at the end of December, when the laboratory reported that its vaccine was 79% effective.

Sinopharm vaccine

It’s a inactivated vaccine, which means that you carry a genetically modified version of the virus which prevents you from reproducing and developing the disease, but generates an immune response in the body with protective ability.

The vaccine requires two doses which must be applied with at least 21 days difference, and can be transported and stored between 2-8 degrees, and remain stable for 24 months.

The government’s goal

The arrival of the new batch of Sinopharm vaccines adds to the regularization of Sputnik V shipments that the government has approved with the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The authorities are looking for a good supply of vaccines to move the vaccination campaign forward.

To date, more than 4 million vaccines have arrived in Argentina: 2,470,540 Sputnik V prepared by the Gamaleya Center, 1 million Sinopharm, and 580 thousand of Covishield, produced by the Serum Institute of India from the Oxford / AstraZeneca formula.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to achieve the long-awaited collective immunity, which requires inoculation of 70 percent of the population to be protected. To do this, vaccines are needed and to this end the government has deployed a government strategy of negotiation on several fronts involving the various pharmaceutical companies.

The shorter-term goal is to vaccinate the population at risk before the cold hits to prevent deaths. With more vaccines in the country, this goal becomes easier to achieve.