Adriana santagati
03/24/2021 13:00
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/24/2021 17:04
While the delay in the production of vaccines impacts globally and in Argentina the doses are received with droppers, it is expected that in the coming days
the promised vaccines from the COVAX fund will
begin to arrive
.
According to
Clarín
from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), "the COVAX mechanism has ensured that 21 countries in the region will receive the first batch of vaccines by the end of this week."
COVAX is an international mechanism promoted by the World Health Organization and other organizations through which it seeks to guarantee the provision of vaccines for all countries, even those that have less negotiating power with large laboratories.
Countries can buy doses for up to 20% of their population.
Although Argentina had made a reserve of 9 million doses, as the Ministry of Health reported in January, in principle it will receive
1.9 million doses between now and May
.
So far, COVAX has delivered just over 2.2 million doses in Latin America.
The country that received the most was Brazil, with one million.
Colombia received 350,000, Bolivia almost 230,000, Peru 117,000 and Paraguay 36,000.
There are still no official details of how many units of that 1.9 million will come in the first delivery, but as this newspaper was able to know there will be
218,000 doses that would arrive this Sunday
.
COVAX deliveries in Latin America are coordinated by PAHO.
Most of the vaccines that are being distributed now, and all those that will arrive in Argentina, are from AstraZeneca and are being produced in a plant of the British company in South Korea.
From there they will travel by plane to Amsterdam, from where the distribution is made to the countries.
“The manufacturer leaves the doses at the airport in Holland and PAHO coordinates the supplier that takes it to each country.
In the case of Argentina, in this first round of allocation, the country has taken the option of making the purchase process directly with the supplier.
In other words, in this instance, it
directly acquires and withdraws
the vaccines assigned through COVAX ”, they explained from OPS.
It is possible that they will go looking for them with an Aerolineas Argentinas flight, as happened with the doses that have been brought so far from Sputnik V and most of those from Sinopharm, but there are still no details of how the operation will be implemented so that the batches arrive to the country.
Official sources told this newspaper that there is still no official COVAX delivery schedule and that they
are awaiting confirmation of the shipment
in the coming days.
Deliveries will be staggered until May.
“The supply is limited and the dates are being confirmed as they are informed by the producer and the logistics companies.
It is an operation that requires a lot of effort and coordination
”, they remarked from PAHO.
According to information published on its website, 11 countries in the region have received vaccines so far, the majority from AstraZeneca.
Only four (Colombia, Peru, El Salvador and Bolivia) received items from Pfizer, as part of an initiative called "first wave", to deliver vaccines to the states that were behind the most.
"There may be other assignments during the year of this laboratory for other countries," they said in PAHO.
v 1.5
Vaccines distributed by COVAX
Data as of March 24, 2021
Source:
PAHO
Infographic:
Clarín
In addition to the AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in South Korea that will arrive through COVAX, it is expected that from mid-April the same development produced in Argentina in the mAbxience laboratory and packaged in the northern hemisphere will also be available.
Our country signed a contract to receive 22 million doses, which will also arrive in a staggered manner.
The fluid flow that is expected to have of these vaccines
supports the presidential optimism
of having the population at risk vaccinated by the end of April, as Alberto Fernández promised this week.
The concrete thing, while a change in the immunization strategy is being debated, is that the AstraZeneca doses may allow both immunization with a first dose and differ (as the United Kingdom is doing) or give the two doses of the complete scheme also to those who have already received the Covishield manufactured in India or receive those produced in Korea, because this vaccine of two equal components
has the same formulation regardless of in which plant it was produced
.
ACE
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