Spain announces donation of 585,600 AstraZeneca vaccines to Bolivia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia announced Tuesday that 585,600 AstraZeneca vaccines donated by Spain through the United Nations Covax mechanism would arrive by the end of the month to cover the lack of second doses of this immunizer in the country.

“We are pleased to announce the donation by the Spanish Government of 585,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine,” mentioned the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Benjamín Blanco, in a press conference in La Paz.

Blanco pointed out that this donation constitutes the “fulfillment of the commitment” made by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the last Ibero-American Summit in Andorra of 7.7 million doses in favor of Latin America and in response to a call made by the Bolivian President, Luis Arce, in that context.

The vice-minister detailed that this shipment of vaccines will arrive in Bolivia “at the end of August”, although he did not give a specific date for the reception of the shipment.

In turn, the Spanish ambassador in Bolivia, Francisco Javier Gassó Matoses, emphasized that “it is necessary an attitude of solidarity of all countries to end the pandemic” and that this donation to Bolivia is aimed at that route.

Gassó pointed out that the Spanish population is vaccinated “in an important percentage” and that “this is the moment” to start sharing doses through mechanisms such as Covax to “guarantee equity” in the distribution of vaccines.

The Spanish donation of vaccines for Latin America is 7.7 million doses, which will probably “be increased to 15 million” in the following months, indicated the Spanish ambassador.

In turn, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO/PAHO), Julio Pedroza, pointed out that the announced donation “is an additional donation to the forecasts made by the country” with shipments from Pfizer, Janssen, and previously also AstraZeneca.

The emergency due to the pandemic caused the complementary doses of vaccines such as AstraZeneca and Sputnik V to have a delivery delay despite the contracts signed at the beginning of the year for the reception of these drugs.

Blanco referred to the conversation between President Arce and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the latter case. The latter “has put all his predisposition” for delivering second doses in Bolivia once the 90 days of application between the first and second doses are completed.

A recent report from the Ministry of Health has established that 2,893,680 first doses and 1,691,896 second doses have been applied.

Since the pandemic in March last year, Bolivia has registered 17,859 deaths and 474,538 confirmed cases.

Bolivia and Spain have re-establish diplomatic relations in January 2021. Their rapport was maintained at the Charge d’Affaires level following the expulsion of Spanish diplomats by the Añez regime in 2019.