Russian vaccine against coronavirus: the first million doses that reach Argentina will go to the province of Buenos Aires

Irene Hartmann

11/09/2020 18:12

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 11/09/2020 18:12

Three novelties of the

.

1) “

”.

The words are from a local source that is labeled “lobbyist”.

It cooperates as a "satellite" (the term is ideal), in the "binational imprint" that seeks to consolidate a bridge so that the Russian

vaccine

against the coronavirus arrives quickly in Argentina.

2) Although there is a promise that 25 million doses will come to the country -manufactured in plants in India, China or South Korea-, there will be

, which, 3) will receive

before anyone else

.

They would arrive in December.

Going from the last to the first, the source close to the developers of the Sputnik V vaccine assured that “the Russian position, an infinite number of times expressed, is that not even a dose will come from Russia because they themselves have a deficit in their production and the first thing they want is to save their own people ”.

However, he clarified, while the 25 million doses that will reach the country will have come from eastern countries, "the provision of vaccines for the province of Buenos Aires has

."

“They are going to receive, independently, 6 million doses because they

, they were ordered.

.

Of those doses, it is very likely that 1 million will come very quickly because the Russians will provide them directly, "he said.

A nurse prepares the injection of the Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V. / Reuters

Taken superficially, the information seems clear.

It is different if one tries to understand the meaning of the watershed, that is, the privileged treatment, clearly, for one jurisdiction over the others.

There the question takes another color. 

.

According to the source consulted, the national government had not formally agreed to the famous secret mission headed by Dr. Carla Vizzotti, Secretary of Access to Health, so "there was no agenda when they got there, although they were finally able to meet."

While the Buenos Aires authorities had been interested in the Russian vaccine "from the start", Minister Ginés González García's bet "had been in favor of the AstraZeneca vaccine."

That initial lack of interest, it seems, now exerts force and produces effects.

“The trip was not planned but a

because it seemed that this other vaccine was not giving the expected results.

And that is why it is resolved to follow the steps that the province of Buenos Aires had begun to take autonomously, ”he recalled.

At this point, it becomes easier to understand the novel "fall" of the

laboratory

from its role as an intermediary in the binational negotiation, which not only surprises but also contradicts the information that Clarín had obtained a week ago from the technical director of that small pharmaceutical based in San Isidro.

Now, from the "satellite" environment of the Russian vaccine, they assured that, although it is true that HLB was part of the famous delegation and that they had established a link with the RDIF a few months ago, "

."

Alberto Fernández and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Among the reasons for this preference would be

.

They say from Russia that there was a

at which the laboratory was going to resell the vaccine.

At this point, who prevailed over whom and in request of what, you can imagine, yes, but they are speculations.

Although

could not confirm the price that the Argentine State will pay for each dose of Sputnik V (query that was made directly to the company, although it has not yet been answered), it circulates that the province of Buenos Aires will not only get the first doses before that no other jurisdiction in the country but will do so "at a

."

Clarín

collated all this information with the HLB laboratory.

Two sources

of the pharmaceutical company from that negotiation.

One of them, who asked not to be named, also specified the following: “Since the negotiation is State-State, we, it seems, would no longer have anything to do with it.

The mess was caused by the mixture of economic and political interests ”.

A few minutes after that talk, both sources consulted with the laboratory's management (led by businessman 

) and commented on nothing less than a piece of information: HLB ceased to be an intermediary, but, they say, it would continue to lead the Sputnik registration procedures V in front of the ANMAT.

It would do so in view of the fact that in the future the national production of this drug will be faced.

In other words, the

.

Press conference

All of the above could be gathered after a press conference that was organized virtually this Monday -the third of its kind-, where

were given

on the progress of Sputnik V and the dance agreements with Argentina.

The conference was led by

, general director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and

, deputy director of the Gamaleya National Research Center in Epidemiology and Microbiology.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and, on the right, the coordinator of the press conference, Sergey Brilev.

Although communication and translation were uneven (due to technical issues), the referents confirmed that

, but before the end of November there will be

of that phase, which will possibly be published in the specialized journal

.

In addition, they assured, a specific protocol will begin to test the vaccine in people

.

So far, 20,000 patients received the first of the two doses that includes this vaccine, and another 15,000, the second.

According to Lagunov, “the idea is, by the end of next month, to have produced 1.5 million doses.

And about 3 to 5 million for January ”.

At this point it is worth clarifying that the 25 million doses that will reach Argentina represent, in reality, the possibility that 12.5 million people will be vaccinated.

Denis Logunov, deputy director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, in charge of the vaccine development team.

Finally, a color data.

At this conference (unlike previous ones), Russian experts swapped a certain emphasis on the unprecedented achievements of the drug they promote for a more measured discourse, which included some

.

Thus, several times they pointed out the importance of the advances of

, just on the day that Pfizer announced that 90% of its phase 3 has been successful, a subject to which the Russian experts explicitly referred. , stressed the importance of

.

Lagunov, along these lines, explained: “We observe the progress of our colleagues.

We had a meeting recently with the leaders of the Chinese vaccine, with Pfizer with Oxford ... we discussed and chatted.

We wonder how we see each other.

The truth is that we cannot say that some are ahead of others ”.

DD