While nearly three million people under the age of 60 have completed vaccination, more than two million elderly people are still awaiting dose 2 of Sputnik V

In Argentina, there are 6,647,911 people waiting for the application of the second part of Sputnik V, while everywhere in the world coincides the need for two doses – and they even speak of a third – to face the threat of the Delta variant. Of these 6.6 million Argentines, 4,185,402 -63% – expired the scheme, since he respected the interval of 56 days set by the Ministry of Health of the Nation on July 1, when he decided to leave the strategy of prioritizing the application of a dose to a greater number Population.

But what is worrying is that More than half of those who have already expired – 2,268,045 – are adults over the age of 60. This was the priority sector at the start of the vaccination plan, when only Sputnik V was available in the country and the doses of component 1 had almost arrived.

In turn, this sector of the elderly is, due to its age and the possibility of having co-morbidities, the most vulnerable in terms of mortality. The numbers clearly show: 79% of the total deaths since the start of the pandemic belong to this age group.

These data are not indifferent to the Ministry of Health in charge of Carla Vizzotti, nor to the national government. They know that this is an assertion that the opposition has made its own and that extends to those who have been waiting for more than three, and up to four months, the second installment of Sputnik V. The contract with the Russians was not respected, and the administration of Alberto Fernández does not seem to have many alternatives – neither legal nor health for the moment – to face this rupture.

So far, a total of 11,868,830 doses of the Russian vaccine have arrived in Argentina: 9,375,670 of the first component and 2,493,160 of the second. This implies that, for all the first four doses, only one of the seconds arrived.. The last shipment of 550,000 arrived on July 12, and there is no word yet on the possible arrival date of a new batch of second doses of the Russian vaccine.

The original contract called for 10 million COVID 19 treatments – 20 million doses of the first and second components – and was later extended to 30 million doses in total. As it is secret, there is only speculation whether or not it is considering a sanction, in case Russia does not comply with what has been signed, or decides to send more doses. component one than component two.

This absence of the second component of Sputnik V generated a situation without sanitary logic: While 2,647,099 people under the age of 60 who have received AstraZeneca or Sinopharm already have both doses, because the availability of these vaccines has made it possible to progress with the vaccination of the youngest, there are 2,343,367 elderly people with Sputnik V who were unable to complete your vaccination.

The delay in production was acknowledged by the government of Vladimir Putin and generated a letter of complaint from Presidential Advisor Cecilia Nicolini. To cope with this situation, which complicates the Government and worries a large part of the population, the Ministry of Health of the Nation as well as several provinces have started combination tests of Sputnik V with those of AstraZeneca and Sinopharm.

The first results would be presented Wednesday by Minister Vizzotti. The combination of vaccines against the coronavirus is an alternative that many countries are analyzing to vaccinate their populations because of the difficulty of access to those manufactured by the different laboratories. If the expected efficacy is confirmed, those who received the first dose of the Russian formula may choose to combine vaccines to complete their schedule or wait for a dose of component 2 of Sputnik V.

In this context, the good news known yesterday was that the Russian manufacturer of Sputnik V approved that the Argentinian laboratory Richmond produce more than 3 million doses of the second component which would be available this month.

Vaccination of under 60s

According to the analysis of the Infobae data unitIn the under 60 age group, 7,429,295 people received the first dose of Astrazeneca and 876,343 the second, so 6,552,952 people (88%) hope to complete their vaccination with the vaccine produced by the Anglo-Swedish laboratory in partnership with the University of Oxford.

Regarding the application of Sinopharm among those under 60, 6,135,153 people in this age group received it, of which 1,770,756 had the second dose, so 71% expect to complete the vaccination schedule with the Chinese formula in the country .

Vaccination rate: speed up the second dose

During the past 14 days, the vaccination rate for the second dose has accelerated, to the detriment of the first.

The average daily application of the first doses, during the last week, compared to the previous one, decreased by 29%. This past week an average of 177,319 per day were placed, while the previous week, 250,625 daily doses had been placed.

The same is not true with the second doses. Over the past 7 days, an average of 174,895 second daily doses have been placed. The previous week had averaged 92,968 second daily doses, implying an 88% increase in the past 7 days compared to the previous week.

So far and with data from last night, 32,923,710 doses of vaccine have been applied in Argentina. Of this total, 25,454,176 correspond to the first dose and 7,469,534 to the first.

This implies that 56% of the country’s population have at least one dose and only 16% the second. For what 39% of the population hopes to complete the vaccination schedule: there are nearly 18 million people.

If analyzed by vaccine type, beyond Sputnik, 9,032,217 first doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were placed, and 2,137,504 of the second, which is equal to the first in composition. These figures imply that 76% have not yet completed the immunization schedule with this formula.

Regarding Sinopharm, 7,134,682 people have already received the first dose, of which 2,656,293 were able to complete their schedule, so 4,478,389 people (63%) are still waiting to complete the vaccination schedule.

How was the information handled?

The Infobae data unit keeps a register of vaccine arrivals according to their origin and type. In the case of the Russian vaccine, it is discriminated by type of dose: 1 and 2. With these data and the monitoring of the doses applied, we can establish the stock available to the Nation for each type of dose. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health of the Nation daily updates a database in which it shares information on each dose applied. With this information, the number of second pending doses was calculated. For the calculation of expired doses, a window of 56 days (8 weeks) was considered for the Sputnik and Astrazeneca vaccines. And 28 days (4 weeks) in the case of Sinopharm.

If you want to view and / or download the spreadsheet with its respective tabs, follow this link.

Data processing and visualizations: Daniela Czibener

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