Bivalent vaccine against Covid: which countries in the region already apply it and why it still has not reached Argentina

Five months have passed since the UK became the first country to approve the

August 15.

And more than four since the United States FDA did so on August 31.

But let's look closer.

Pfizer's bivalents have been applied since this week in Panama, they will arrive shortly in the Dominican Republic and these new doses of Moderna are already available in Chile and Peru. 

Argentina, at its classic "delayed" pace since the start of the pandemic, is a country that lags behind in terms of advances in immunization.

From the Ministry of Health of the Nation they told

that there is still no specific information on when the

will arrive .

"We continue giving those of the original variant (the one from Wuhan, China) that have proven efficacy," they noted.

Vaccination in Tecnopolis.

In Argentina, the doses designed for the Wuhan variant are still used.

Photo Marcelo Carroll

Why don't even those of Moderna arrive, with whom the largest agreement was signed, if the laboratory itself had confirmed that they would be there before the end of 2022?

Is it a contract or distribution problem for the pharmaceutical company?

If so, why are Chile or Peru already applying them and the Argentine population is still waiting?

As I can confirm

, Moderna's bivalent already has Anmat's regulatory approval for sending the doses.

And the laboratory "has product available."

In the next few days, then, there will be news about delivery dates.

"Closer to February than March,"

a source directly linked to that vaccine

assured

Why is it important for the bivalent to arrive?

The Ómicron sublineages, the BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BA.2.75.2, BA.4, BA.5 and XBB subvariants, applied a "turbo" of contagions worldwide. 

Protection against hospitalization and death, especially in the risk group due to age or comorbidities, is more effective if bivalent or second-generation vaccines are used, "calibrated" specifically for these different faces of the coronavirus.

In his absence, the Minister of Health of the Nation, Carla Vizzotti, recommended a few days ago to apply a reinforcement, "regardless of the doses that are taken", if four months have passed since the last injection.

But in the Province, as stated on the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health page and it is a recurring complaint, the vaccination centers (which can be accessed without shift) remain open only from Monday to Friday and until, at most, 6:00 p.m. in many cases being on time after an 8-hour workday in an average schedule.

Vaccination at the Islamic Center of the City of Buenos Aires.

Photo Maxi Failla

In the City, meanwhile, there are four vaccination posts open on Saturdays and Sundays: the Islamic Center, Casla, Larreta Museum and Devoto, from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Those who are domiciled in other jurisdictions can approach but only with prior registration and appointment, as well as if they reside in the Capital.

Without an appointment you will not be able to receive the fifth dose.

Doubt about which vaccine to apply

The lack of predictability about when they will be available strengthens a doubt that has already become dangerous:

"

The Government is not betting that ARVAC Cecilia Grierson, the Argentine vaccine, will be there before the imported bivalent ones. They are not waiting for those trials, for which a large number of individuals still have to be enrolled. That phase 2/3 is going It

will take several months.

, " the renowned infectologist Eduardo López, adviser to the National Ministry of Health

, tells

Regardless of when they arrive, how will the first batch be made to yield?

Will those who have received five doses be eligible or will it be enough to have completed the scheme without a booster?

Will risk groups be prioritized, regardless of what the covid vaccination certificate says?

"They should give it to those over 50 years of age, because that is where the greatest impact of mortality is. Precisely, if you want to adjust a little more, those over 65. In general, the United States proposed that two months pass from the last dose, regardless of whether it is a first, second or third booster. There are few countries that have given the third booster, which here is called the fifth dose. So the bivalent, if it comes, give it to that group. It doesn't matter how many you have given before", points out López.

It should also be clarified that just as the "old" vaccines continue to be effective, the bivalent ones could be obsolete for the recent variant called Kraken, which despite its alarmist name would only imply a greater ability to evade immune protection and not necessarily greater severity in cases. infection pictures.

Always one step (or several) behind

Argentina was never a pioneer country in punctures.

Regardless of the vaccine technology.

First it was the Russian Sputnik, AstraZeneca or Sinopharm and, much later, those with the messenger RNA platform, Pfizer and Moderna, which finally demonstrated greater efficacy in phase 3 studies.

In 2023, we are also running from behind.

Chile began applying Pfizer's bivalent vaccines on October 11.

And Moderna, which also delivered bivalent doses in that country, announced that the new ones will be available in Uruguay for the start of the 2023 vaccination campaign.

The Moderna ones have not yet arrived in Brazil either, but the country that Lula has governed since December and that already has 4.5 million doses of the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer that protect against the original Omicron variants and the BA1 sublineage. 

Why if they are in Chile and not in Argentina?

Pfizer remains hermetic regarding when they will land in our country.

But it is known that the management with Moderna was more oiled than here, as in the first waves of the pandemic, when that country had already finalized the agreements with Pfizer that were truncated for these lands.

Regarding Moderna, the pharmaceutical company made the presentation in August of last year to be ready in October and send the first batches of the updated doses.

A version registration package for BA.4 BA.5 arrived in November.

Now the details of the obstacle that prevents the total shipments from going up to the planes to land in Ezeiza are unknown.

What is clear is that even though the Argentine health authorities had already closed an agreement in the middle of last year, what delayed delivery was ANMAT's approval.

The second generation Argentine vaccine, ARVAC Cecilia Grierson, is an agreement between public and private actors: a joint development between Conicet, the National University of San Martín (Unsam) and the Pablo Cassará Laboratory.

It will be a booster dose in already immunized people

Phase I results in humans demonstrated that it is safe and highly immunogenic against the original variant and also against Gamma and Ómicron.

It induced

neutralizing antibodies against the virus.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus, remarked that "it is the first time that Phase II and III studies have been carried out in the country for a nationally developed vaccine."

MG

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