Irene Hartmann
01/27/2021 12:05 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 01/27/2021 12:05 PM
If the
schedule
had been as reported by the Government last Friday, an Aerolineas Argentinas flight would have left on Sunday to look for 600,000 doses of the
Sputnik V
vaccine
to Moscow and, thus, the third batch of ampoules against the coronavirus would have landed on Tuesday in Ezeiza.
After several postponements, the novelty of these hours is that the doses would arrive this Thursday -at a time to be confirmed-, but
instead of being 600,000, there will be just over a third of those stipulated: 220,000
, all of the first component, of the two that includes the Russian vaccine.
There was no official information on the reasons for the downsizing of the game.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health reiterated to
Clarín
what they had already been explaining since Sunday: that the departure date of the flight was still uncertain, that they were waiting for the "ok" from Russia and the delay was due to "
logistical issues
" that they were not detailed.
The lack of information led to different versions.
The first, which was advanced by this newspaper, had as a solid source the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, who this Tuesday gave an interview to American television (CNBC), in which he stated (not specifically referring to to Argentina, but their sayings are suggestive in this context) that, as is happening to Pfizer and AstraZeneca,
they could also have “production delays”
, since “vaccines use many components, and if there is a supply issue with some, things are delayed ".
The second was a version in relation to one of the supplies for the transfer, which would have sounded reasonable if it had not been circulated by local journalists for lobbying purposes, who seek without any subtlety to enhance the role of Russian scientific activity in the pandemic. .
The explanation they offered could not be confirmed by
Clarín
, although some national media took it for granted.
They emphasized that "in no way was the delay due to a failure in production from Russia."
Instead, they remarked, the problem lies in the shortage of a basic input in the transport process: the
container boxes of the DHL company
, essential to preserve the temperature of the vaccines.
If that version were true, a second explanation that emerges from it would become relevant, and with which it is justified that this Thursday a third of the announced doses are arriving in the country.
The argument alludes to a matter of
space in the plane
that carries out the transport of the doses.
Thus, due to the supposed lack of boxes (called Thermobox), they would be having to use some
containers
, which take up much more space, which
makes
it
impossible to bring the 600,000 planned doses
.
However, this extensive version falls against the sayings of a high source closely linked to the transfer operation: he explained
that there are plenty of Thermobox boxes in Russia and of different sizes
.
It would be 600,000 units, in fact.
According to this source, the problem would then fall on "vaccine production issues", in charge of the Gamaleya Center and the RDIF.
As is happening to almost all pharmaceutical companies with developments against Covid, Russia would be suffering an
overflow due to the high demand for doses
.
Beyond the cause of the delay,
the question of space
for import travel of vaccines from now on is not minor.
It happens that 600,000 doses enter the hold of an Airbus 330,
if they are placed in Thermobox boxes
.
But if the packaging were to vary for any reason, that capacity would be dramatically modified.
So, whether due to the need to modify the packaging or the intention of bringing many more doses, the truth is that Aerolineas Argentinas is optimizing the plane that operated the repatriation flights to China: then they had been used in “half-way freighter mode ”.
In other words, of the 243 passenger seats, a part had been removed.
As
Clarín
could know
, now they are taking "from end to end" all seats in the middle, the rows considered "most uncomfortable", of four consecutive seats.
The goal is to remove 120 seats in total, a task that takes about
10 days
, apparently.
The ship would be ready by the end of this week or the beginning of the next.
However, it is not ruled out (even from the Ministry of Health, although they could not specify dates) that the plane that will now bring the 220,000 doses does, before the other aircraft is "ready", with 120 fewer seats,
a new trip
to bring more doses of the Russian vaccine.
Sure, they would come in the cellar.
ACE
Look also
Fernán Quirós said that the "delivery of vaccines is unstable", but gave details of the stages to apply Sputnik V
In the Government they justify the delay of Sputnik V and speak of a "bottleneck" in production
