Natasha Niebieskikwiat
02/15/2021 18:31
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/15/2021 6:31 PM
It is expected that
580,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine
, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India laboratory, with technology from Oxford and AstraZeneca, will
arrive in the country this Wednesday
.
These will be added to the minimum endowment of just over
1 million doses of Sputnik V
that the Ministry of Health has been able to obtain, in a negotiation with various laboratories and countries, to the stumbling block, and with a significant delay if the promises are compared officials with the start of a massive vaccination campaign against Covid-19.
It is also expected, according to diplomatic sources, that the Chinese will sign in a matter of hours the contract to send here
a million doses of Sinopharm
, from the China National Farmatheutical Group, as Alberto Fernández and his ambassador in Beijing, Sabino Vaca, are now negotiating. Narvaja.
The Ambassador of India, Dinesh Bathia
Careful that any word could generate a conflict, the Indian ambassador to Argentina, Dinesh Bhatia, spoke in an interview with
Clarín
about the production in his country not only of the Covishield vaccine - already approved in this country - but also de la Covaxin, which is also available for sale.
And he gave a little-known fact here: that India, home to one of the largest numbers of laboratories in the world, has
not
yet
approved the manufacture of Sputnik V
, which the Government expected to be able to acquire 25 million from Russia.
"Right now I can't say anything else except that Sputnik has an agreement with our company (Dr. Reddy's Laboratories) to produce, but
they haven't started production yet
. So Sputnik's India export issue is long. term. In a few weeks, a few months, "he said in his office on 900 Madero Avenue.
"This company has contact with Sputnik and is in the process of
observing the technology to create the production system
, but still Sputnik is not approved by the authorities in India, once it is done they will produce, too, it seems to me. I don't know the laboratory's plan, but they are also going to export, "he said.
The Presidency as well as the Ministry of Health had said that the millions of Russian vaccines that Argentina was waiting for in January and February - and that they did not arrive - were going to be manufactured
in laboratories in India and South Korea
.
This did not happen.
Then the new ambassador to Moscow
, Eduardo Zuaín, came out,
suggesting the production of the drug in Argentine laboratories, a fact that is not ruled out but that would take a long time for the existing needs.
As of this Monday there was also no news of what will happen
between Argentina and South Korea
, or if there is any other alternative for a third country that can manufacture Sputnik.
Sources linked to the negotiations with the Russians assured that the South Koreans are already manufacturing it but did not give further details.
On the other hand, the press of the Asian country assured that for now what began is the
importation of the Russian vaccine
for their own consumption.
The government of Vladimir Putin only made
exceptions to Argentina
after its dialogues with Alberto Fernández and sent a minimum endowment of production.
By law,
vaccines made in Russia are for Russians
.
The last supply of 400,000 doses that arrived last week were, although a sale,
a political gesture to the Argentine government
.
Like the 820,000 that arrived between December and early January.
-What vaccines against COVID is India producing? Clarín asked Ambassador Bathia.
-At this moment we have two vaccines, one is from AstraZeneca, which is being produced by the Serum Institute of India laboratory (it refers to the vaccine that is known by the Covishield brand).
The other is a vaccine that is fully developed, researched and developed in India, which is called Covaxin, and it is produced in laboratory which is called Bharat Biotech, and it is a completely Indian company, the two companies are Indian.
We are a country of 1,350 million inhabitants (as of Thursday they had vaccinated 7 million) And these two companies are producing to send to other countries.
- Is Argentina among them already?
-Today we have already sent our vaccines to 20 countries in the world.
Not yet, it is in the process of discussing the issue of bringing vaccines from India to Argentina (the companies take it with the Argentine government).
Neighbors are always the first priority for us, for any other country.
They have received many, in the first stage, in the beginning.
-So, what is being discussed to sell Argentina in vaccines?
-The government is not exporting.
It is the companies that export, because they are private companies.
Of course, the Government has export control, because it is clear, it is also logical, that companies are going to give the Government of India what we need, and then the extra capacity is going to be used for export.
That is the government (of Argentina), the Ministry of Health and our companies.
At the moment between exports and donations they add 22.97 million doses.
But India is ready to export vaccines to Argentina.
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