Irene Hartmann
01/26/2021 4:49 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 01/26/2021 17:09
To understand why the 600,000 doses of the Russian Sptunik V vaccine that the Government planned to fetch on Monday are delayed, it may be a good idea to pay attention to the words of
Kirill Dmitriev
, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), in an interview he had on Tuesday with the US television network
CNBC
.
The key words are "inputs", "production" and "
understandable delays
" to which the world should adapt, considering the high global demand.
The context of these sayings is important: Dmitriev
did not speak specifically about Argentina
but about the lack of vaccines in general, so they are not conclusive expressions.
However, his words are crucial at this time.
It happens that they are hours of anxiety, considering the lack of an arrival date for the next batch of vaccines against the coronavirus to Argentina.
One presumes that the uncertainty not only falls on those who should receive the doses these days, but that the Government itself must be
cutting nails
, since its management depends on the green light of Russia to go out and look, at once, the doses .
As a source from the sector explained to
Clarín
, among the implications of the delay is the "weaving and unweaving", each day, the Aerolineas Argentinas flight to Russia.
The qualifying papers for the trip are drawn up
, the crew
is "freezed" (in the jargon it is "
penalized
"), and at the end of the day, everything is thrown back.
As for whether this involves a cost, whoever spoke to this medium assured that it is almost irrelevant, since they are days with almost no commercial activity (in terms of passenger transport) and fuel, the most expensive part of a flight like this, "is loaded at the last minute".
A nurse holds a vial of the Russian coronavirus vaccine.
/ Bloomberg
Although
Clarín
has been asking the local representatives of the RDIF the reasons for this delay, there were, for now, no details.
On the other hand, there are
lobbyist voices
that daily communicate with journalists from the main national media (with the obvious purpose of promoting a certain enlargement of the Russian imprint against the pandemic) who in the last hours circulated an
alternative version of the delay
.
They assured that "it is not the fault of Russia", which up to now fulfilled the agreement with Argentina "at face value", and clarified that, instead, there would be a
shortage of DHL container boxes
(called "Thermobox"), precisely those that they are used for safe transfer of doses.
In addition, in dialogue with this chronicler, one of those people suggested that the company Pfizer (which, as is known, needs to keep its doses against the coronavirus at 80 degrees below zero) would be "hoarding" the DHL boxes.
From DHL, however, they said the following to
Clarín
: "The cooling boxes are from Pfizer and not DHL. Pfizer's vaccine uses very specific requirements for transportation and is currently transported only through its own boxes."
Meanwhile, from the Ministry of Health of the Nation during the afternoon of Tuesday they were still
waiting for the "ok" from Russia
to go to look for the vaccines, whose delay, they said, would be due to "
logistical issues
."
So
what did Kirill Dmitriev say to CNBC
(
Consumer News and Business Channel
)?
In hours when, it is presumed, the CEO of the Russian Fund knows that the company he leads is in some way "at fault" (in terms of timing) with Argentina, he explained that "
delays
have been seen
... it is understandable this happens because
vaccines use many components and if there is a supply issue with a component, things are delayed
”.
He then clarified that this "has been seen with Pfizer, with AstraZeneca and with most vaccines."
And he added: “
I think there may also be a delay in a part of our production.
, as we increase capacity ... we hope not
”.
In the note, Dmitriev
criticized the "rich countries"
for having monopolized most of the available vaccines, an argument that allowed him to connect with two other statements.
On the one hand, the urgency to generate a more equitable world scenario in terms of supplies to combat the advance of Covid-19.
On the other, the central role that, in his eyes, Russia plays in the pandemic, as a supplier of vaccines to developing countries.
Finally, before clarifying that “the best is done to provide vaccines on time”, Dmitriev remarked: “It is a process that has never been carried out in the world.
Expectations have to be realistic
. "
Look also
New York runs out of vaccines and halts its immunization mega-campaign
Coronavirus: Russian scientists capture first image of British strain of COVID-19
