Irene Hartmann
01/12/2021 18:30
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 01/12/2021 6:49 PM
"In principle, they will be
weekly deliveries
," said a senior source from the Ministry of Health of the Nation.
A minute later, he admitted: "Yes, it certainly
has to speed up
."
With the first sentence he alluded to vaccines against the coronavirus.
With the second, to the vaccination campaign, which for the most critical of the Government takes place in slow motion.
Clarín
knew - based on information a few days ago from a government source - that once the 300,000 doses of the second component of the Russian
Sputnik V
vaccine land this Saturday
, another 4,700,000 vials will arrive from India or Korea. from the south.
What was not known until now was whether they would all fly together or in different games.
Now it was known that the doses
will come in installments
.
How many doses will Russia send per week and from when?
It is not known.
It is the intention that at least one flight - again, in addition to the one that will arrive this Saturday - occurs before the end of January.
"In this we go to the day to day, talking with Russia and putting together the travel scheme," explained the source, for whom the pace of the campaign does not justify declining the horizon announced by President Alberto Fernández at the beginning of December.
At the end of December, the first doses of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus arrived at one of the City's distribution centers.
Photo: Andrés D'Elía
In other words, by February there should be enough doses to vaccinate
10 million people
, "with the possibility of adding another 5 million in the summer months," said the person consulted.
Regardless of whether that will be possible, it is convenient to stop in the context, which only requires tying up some ends.
A couple of months ago, it was circulating through the ministerial corridors that there were
difficulties in communication with Russia
to agree from the most basic to the most complex of the logistics "vaccines".
And then, a week ago, an official source showed its loose predisposition by stating "
we are going to look for them wherever
(the Russians)
tell us
."
Argentina is not exempt from the world equation that combines a
very high demand
for vaccines with severe limitations in production.
The government can push for the deadlines stipulated in the contract signed with its Asian counterpart to be met, but
the handle on logistics
(from the dates to how many doses will be sent) seems to be in Russia.
In other ways too.
An example of this is the issue of the
approval of the Sputnik V vaccine for people over 60 years of age
.
Russia authorized its administration to older adults in its country, but Argentina did not: the ANMAT recommendation - which served as the starting point for the Government to authorize the use of this drug - did not include that age group.
Sputnik V vaccines must be distributed respecting the cold chain, keeping them at at least -18 °.
Photo: courtesy Andreani
Approval to vaccinate those over 60 "will come out soon," say multiple sources.
But it still hasn't happened.
According to the consulted Health source, "Russia approved giving it to people over 60, but
did not send the documentation
"
corresponding to ANMAT
.
It is easy to imagine a bitter taste, a product of that delay.
Regarding what will happen to the 300,000 new doses once they arrive in the country, it was confirmed that they will
be distributed the same, with the same logic
, as the first ones, distributed between Christmas and New Years.
However, the part that should not be identical concerns the vaccination times, which the Government admits "slow": "It is going to accelerate because
the vaccination centers and the number of vaccinators are expanded
. Beyond what already it is working today, the movement is tuning up and becoming faster and more dynamic. But clearly it has to be accelerated ".
This Saturday another 300 thousand doses of the Sputnik V vaccine are expected to arrive in the country. Photo: Mauricio Nievas
Clarín
got in contact with the Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Health authorities to try to understand how this major "push" will be.
While waiting for details from the City, it should be noted that a few days ago, sources from the portfolio led by Fernán Quirós had outlined being "in a position to
press the accelerator
" to administer the second dose to those who received the first, and complete the vaccination of 150,000 doctors in the Buenos Aires area.
Meanwhile, from the
Buenos Aires Ministry of Health they
were clear.
"Last week was the first entire week, without holidays, since the vaccine arrived in the country. Due to the Holidays, the previous weeks had been cut short," they explained, and stated: "It was necessary to adjust the rate of application and for some days
we have been accelerating a lot
”.
The health authorities seek to accelerate the rate of application of the vaccines that are available, to speed up the mechanisms of large-scale immunization.
Photo: Mauricio Nievas
It will be a matter of waiting.
First, for more vaccines to arrive.
But also, to appease the internal tension that arose after the Secretary of Access to Health,
Carla Vizzotti
, explained to the newspaper
Página 12
that they were considering vaccinating 20 million people with component 1 and, in due time, waiting for the arrival of component 2.
His sayings were questioned by various experts, but mainly by the President, who came out to clarify that Vizzotti had been wrong.
Ambitious enough is the promise to vaccinate 10 million people by February.
The double sounds like too much, when the logistics of the campaign are not oiled and the vaccine, as of January 12, was not approved for people over 60 years old.
As the communicational setback was great and the margin left by the rise in coronavirus cases is small, the air, at this time, feels dense.
Clarín
consulted his feeling with an additional source, also linked to the aforementioned authorities.
The diagnosis was precise: “She sent herself alone and did not have the 'ok' from the team.
You have to talk less
, beyond the fact that we are always sincere ”.
DD
Look also
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Coronavirus in Argentina: what is known about the official management to buy Moderna's vaccine