Argentina to receive 4 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses this month

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Argentine government on Tuesday announced that it will receive the first batch of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines this month under a supply contract signed with the laboratory, while another order, also from AstraZeneca, will be received through the United Nations Covax initiative.

The announcement was made by Argentina’s Health Minister Carla Vizzotti during a meeting of the Federal Health Council, which comprises health authorities from all Argentine provinces.

Vizzotti specified that Argentina will receive 3,960,000 vaccine doses developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca this month. This is the first vaccine batch under a contract signed by the South American country with AstraZeneca in November 2020 for the supply of a total of 22.4 million doses. In addition, Argentina will receive another 861,600 doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine this May through the Covax facility.

“Undoubtedly, this is the beginning of a new stage after all efforts made by the national government through different negotiations to secure the vaccines and to be able to continue administering first doses and complete (vaccination) schedules,” said Vizzotti in a press release.

The Minister stated that, should the company comply with the schedule, the target population will soon be able to be vaccinated as a priority at this stage. “This will change the course of the second wave of the pandemic in Argentina,” said Vizzotti.

MORE SPUTNIK V VACCINES

State-owned Aerolíneas Argentinas airline confirmed on Tuesday the departure of a new flight to Moscow to bring to the South American country more doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which would land next Thursday.

So far, with a population of 45 million inhabitants, Argentina has received a total of 12,198,250 doses from various laboratories for its vaccination plan against Covid-19, launched last December.

According to official data released on Tuesday, 9,237,005 doses have been administered so far. A total of 7,790,786 people were administered the first vaccine dose, while 1,446,219 people have been inoculated with the second dose.