what the worst-affected country in America is going to do with the US stocks and the doses it has left

The complex vaccine approval process Sputnik V by the World Health Organization (WHO) affects the world in heterogeneous ways. In America in particular, only 8 out of 35 countries used the Russian vaccine: Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina.

Looking at the percentages of vaccines used in each country, we can see that in Argentina the amount of Sputnik V represents the biggest bet of all: 35 percent of the total doses applied.

According to a recent CNN report, based on data from the Our World in Data site and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), for Bolivia, the Russian vaccine represents 24% of the total number of vaccines received by its population; for Venezuela, 13%; for Guatemala, 17%; for Honduras, 1.5 percent; for Paraguay, 1.5 percent.

The percentage of Mexico is not exactly known, but it is lower, since it received only 6.5 million doses of Sputnik V. For Nicaragua, it represents 45%, although on a lower total. to a million vaccines.

Argentina and Brazil constitute two opposing paradigms with regard to Sputnik V. In the country of Jair Bolsonaro the vaccine was the subject of multiple controversies and objections, although these did not come from public opinion as in Argentina, but of State.

In Argentina, on the other hand, it is the second vaccine that obtained the approval of the ANMAT, in December, (after that of Pfizer) and now this scenario has been reached in which over 11 million Argentines who received it sees that the drug will not serve as an immune passport Until the WHO gives you the green light.

Until November 1, Argentines will be able to enter the United States without restrictions, as was the case throughout the pandemic. Three weeks left for the stocks to rule and since then, if the WHO does not accept Sputnik V, the vaccinated will be caught up in a Kafkaesque plot in which they did not choose to be the protagonists.

The paradox is that the American standard is in fact a opening of rights and not like a shackle. Opening for Brazilians and Europeans who until now could not enter this country, and now they will be able to do so with the full regimen of one of the six vaccines approved by the WHO.

There are no Brazilians and few Europeans vaccinated with Sputnik V (only Hungarians, Croats, Slovenes and Serbs). Uruguayans, Chileans, Colombians, Ecuadorians or Peruvians do not use it either. Anyone who has received two doses in countries that have avoided the Russian vaccine is assured of their international transit.

For this reason, Argentina was in the center of the stage. The tweet launched ten days ago by the Russian Minister of Health, in which he assured that small administrative details were missing for Sputnik V to be approved by the WHO, was not naive, dedicated to our country with the photo of a vaccination certificate dated from Avellaneda. .

The letter despite July was also not anecdotal, when presidential adviser Cecilia Nicolini asked the Russians for explanations about the slow supply of the second component of the inoculant (at the time the international stock was not not a central question).

Letters and letters complete an almost matrimonial bond between Argentina and Russia. A government that knew (beyond the scientific scrolls of the Gamaleya Institute) who did you marry. And an innocent offspring: Argentines who still suffer today from the undesirable effects of this December crush.

In this game of uncertainty and intrigue, the government seems to ignore the problem – at least publicly – instead of promoting diplomatic action and claim rights of those vaccinated with Sputnik V. Of course, that would amount to giving the conflict an official meaning and the admission of a weakness, something we have tried so far to avoid.

There are also contradictions within the WHO. A clear example, for example, is the fact that PAHO funds vaccine research in Argentina in which Sputnik V is the object of study as if it were just one more vaccine when, according to WHO requirements, this inoculant would not exist.

Anyway, the contract of 30 million dosesArgentina has so far received more than 19 million, of which 11.3 million corresponds to component 1 and 8.3 million to component 2.

This means that they are still awaiting delivery. 3.7 million complete diagrams, in addition to the three million second doses due to those who already have the first.

At this stage of the vaccination operation, there would be no one left to vaccinate with the first doses of Sputnik V, since those over 18 who have not yet received a dose are covered by the Chinese unit doses of Cansino (not yet approved by the WHO).

In this context, Russia has decided to redouble its promotion of Sputnik light (first component) as a third dose. In a tweet in the past few hours, their spokespersons claimed that this independently provided partial immune option produced best results compared to the Delta variant than most two-dose vaccines.

Will the Government correspond to this new attempt to seduce its main health partner? Will this be the destination you choose for the rest of the contract? If this were the case, we must expect that the Argentines who will ultimately benefit from a reinforcement from Sputnik V will finally receive a recognized vaccine by the world’s highest health authority.

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