Paraguay signs contract in U.S. for purchase of two million doses of Moderna vaccine

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Government of Paraguay signed a contract to purchase two million doses of Moderna vaccines as part of the negotiations carried out in the United States by the Minister of Health, Julio Borba, announced this Friday the health ministry.

The source added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would coordinate what is necessary for the shipment to arrive in due time and form to the country, which has more than 14,000 deaths due to Covid-19.

Borba is in the United States to speed up negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to obtain new shipments and ensure the supply of biologics for 2022, as the minister announced last week.

At the same time, a batch of 33,900 doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived at the international airport of Asunción, part of the million acquired by the Government, of which a similar quantity arrived a few days ago.

The health portfolio already has another million doses of Pfizer, which it uses, donated by the US Government.

Borba’s efforts coincide with those being made in Mexico by the Chancellor, Euclides Acevedo, who this Thursday met with AstraZeneca officials to negotiate the purchase of 500,000 vaccines produced in the North American country.

So far, more than 1.7 million people in Paraguay have been vaccinated with at least one dose, in a campaign that has accelerated in recent weeks. The older adults and white-collar workers were followed by people aged 50 and over and then between 20 and 34.

In this age range, the Ministry launched the “A Day”, dedicated to adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age with underlying pathologies.

The progression of vaccination goes hand in hand with a decrease in the number of positives, deaths, and hospitalizations, said the director of Health Surveillance, Guillermo Sequera, during a press conference this Friday,

At the press conference, Sequera confirmed the entry into the country of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, with six cases detected in Asunción and in the Central department, which concentrate the largest population in the country.

With little more than seven million inhabitants, the country has accumulated a total of 14,501 deaths since the pandemic spread a year and a half ago, with 447,864 positives for 408,973 recovered, according to the last report of the Ministry.