Irene Hartmann
12/18/2020 4:17 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 12/18/2020 4:17 PM
There are 600,000 doses of the Russian vaccine
against the coronavirus that will arrive in Argentina on December 24.
They are 300,000
.
An official source called to clarify the issue when
Clarín
had a note with the highest figure online.
"So you are going to vaccinate only 150,000 people in the first round?", Asked this medium.
"No.
We are going to vaccinate 300,000.
5 million more doses arrive in January, so the
second dose, 21 days later, is guaranteed
”.
Both the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández, and the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, had assured only a week ago (at the press conference on December 10) that
600,000 doses of the Russian vaccine
will arrive
before the end of the year
.
At the press conference on December 10, the President, who corrected himself on the spot, said: “We are going to have
a first batch of 300,000 ... 600,000 doses to vaccinate 300,000 people
before the end of the year.
Around January we will have the doses to vaccinate 5 million people, and in February it will be completed to reach the vaccination of 10 million people ”.
That day,
the Health Minister tweeted about the 600,000 doses.
We will have 600,000 doses that will allow us to vaccinate 300,000 people before the end of the year.
Two doses for each person with an application that takes place between 21 and 28 days.
- Gines González García (@ginesggarcia) December 10, 2020
For several days (and even this Friday), the media went crazy trying to interpret the issue of
the date
, which led to political speculation of all colors, including some tension between the prime minister and his minister.
The news this Friday is that the other part of what was said on December 10 was also miscommunicated.
600,000 doses will not arrive but 300,000.
That is,
only the dose or component 1
of the Russian vaccine, which involves two ampoules.
In other words,
half a vaccine will arrive for 300,000 people.
And you can also review the news published on the official sites of Argentina and Russia: those of
argentina.gob.ar
and those that the
Russian government's
SputnikNews
agency has online
.
There is always talk of 600,000 doses.
Asked about this issue, the Government explained that "there was always talk of vaccinating 300,000 people, which will be done", and remarked that "it will not be a problem because
the second doses will arrive on time
, in January."
They also detailed that the
exact start date of the
vaccination
campaign
will be defined on Wednesday, December 23
in the meeting that the
National Immunization Commission
(CoNaIn) will hold, one day before the first batch of vaccines is supposed to arrive.
In addition, they explained: "What sense would it make to vaccinate only 150,000 people and leave 150,000 more doses sleeping in the refrigerators, if the rest will arrive later?"
The phrase makes sense, but it
omits two issues
: on the one hand, it was the national authorities that put the number 600,000 on the horizon.
The second, that unlike those developed by other laboratories,
doses 1 and 2 are not identical
in the specific case of SputnikV.
One does not replace the other.
And that is why in the released photos, one vial has a red cap and the other has a blue cap.
Does it matter to apply a vaccine knowing that receiving both doses is central to achieving successful immunity against Covid, but
the second vial is 13,400 kilometers away
?
Any adult with children knows vaccines that are administered in more than one dose (the meningococcal ones, the one that prevents HPV ...).
It is known that giving the boy the first injection is far from guaranteeing that later (one, three or six months later, depending on the drug), subsequent doses will be available.
The vaccine is not "reserved" for anyone
.
You trust the system.
The games are replenishing the many vaccinations.
They are distributed by the Ministry of Health, as they are produced by national laboratories or, as the case may be, when they enter the country, facilitated by the PAHO-WHO Revolving Fund, a kind of "vaquita" that
stocks
at the regional level, similar to the now mentioned COVAX Fund.
Except in situations such as the 2018 distribution deficit - a situation for which the former Secretary of Health,
Adolfo Rubinstein
, received countless criticisms - it is not so common that vaccines are lacking here.
Argentina is one of the countries with the most complete vaccination scheme in
the region, except for exceptional situations, such as an epidemic outbreak that destabilizes the supply system in public and private vaccinations.
$
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