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Given the lack of doses, the Government is now negotiating the purchase of a Cuban vaccine against COVID

2021-04-01T22:46:50.416Z


Vizzotti met with the Cuban ambassador to Argentina. Although they exchanged documents on various drugs, the Argentines were interested in the so-called 'Sovereign 2'.


Natasha Niebieskikwiat

04/01/2021 19:12

  • Clarín.com

  • Politics

Updated 04/01/2021 19:14

The Government is holding talks with Havana for the possible acquisition of one of the vaccines against COVID-19 that is being developed in Cuba, and which has already entered phase 3 of its development.

This was confirmed to

Clarín by

the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, who affirmed that it is a "highly prioritized strategy" by the Alberto Fernández administration, which seeks to redirect the crisis due to the lack of vaccines in Argentina.

This Thursday, the Presidency assured that 5.1 million vaccines against the coronavirus had already been distributed and more than 4 million were applied.

On Monday 29 Vizzotti held

a meeting in his office with the Cuban ambassador to Argentina, Pedro Pablo Prada Quintero,

to specify the objectives of both parties, and they spoke especially of the

"Sovereign 02"

, as the Cubans baptized one of its several candidate vaccines to immunize the population against COVID 19.

It transpired that there could be Cuban vaccines in Argentina for May, and that Covaxin is being negotiated with India, but the Government affirms that "there is no information" about that.

On the Cuban there are no dates, nor quantities nor amounts closed.

Vizzotti was the one who began the secret negotiations with the Russians that ended in the purchases of Sputnik V.

“I had a meeting with the Cuban ambassador in Argentina, he transmitted to me and updated information on the 5 vaccines that are being developed in Cuba, and always working towards all technological development, we are very in contact with Cuba and in collaboration to accelerate the research and explore possibilities to collaborate on the scale of production, "the minister told this newspaper. 

"It is a highly prioritized strategy for us,"

said the minister who is still under pressure from the VIP Vaccination scandal that she now minimizes.

The national government, and some provinces where the ruling party governs, such as Buenos Aires, had tried at the beginning of the pandemic to go to the famous endowment of the famous Cuban doctors, a true health army that Cuba has distributed throughout the world in a double end: propaganda of good Cuban medicine and a way to collect hard currency that is very scarce.

But here criticisms rained down from the medical community that rejected them.

And denunciations flourished about how the Cuban state controls the lives of its export professionals.

Finally, the Government suspended the negotiation to bring the Cuban doctors.

But now, due to the lack of vaccines, he resumed talks with the government of Miguel Díaz Canel, his ally.

However, the Cuban vaccines that Cuba develops against COVID are also being praised in the United States press.

Last Monday

, Vizzotti received from the Cuban diplomat the documentation on the Sovereign 02 vaccine,

which according to an extensive report from the

Associated Press

news agency

,

from Havana, is advanced and with good results.

Last Wednesday the first of the two doses that carries this drug to 44,000 volunteers in phase 2 was finished and now it enters phase 3, which is the final one.

In the month of June they hope to have the results on the efficiency that they expect "high".

Doctors interviewed by the AP on the island say that a high percentage of patients showed vaccinated antibodies in phase 2. 

Due to the United States embargo against Cuba, which prevents them from easily accessing credit and direct purchases, Cubans set out to manufacture respirators, swabs, and reagents for the PCR test.

Also vaccinations.

In addition to

Soberana 2 and Abdala -entry in phase 3-, they

have under development with varying degrees of success

the Mambisa, Soberana 01 and Soberana Plus, in previous stages of research.

But with Argentina they have a problem.

Cuba's debt to this country, which was contracted in 1973 when José B. Gelbard, Hector Cámpora's Minister of Economy, loaned Fidel Castro almost US $ 1.3 billion.

By 2017, the Argentine Foreign Trade and Investment Bank reported that Cuba then owed US $ 2,551 million, adding capital and interest.

Today, there are those who place that debt at almost US $ 4,000 million.

And that hinders a good part of the bilateral trade in which the State is involved.

It is an obligation to claim it.

In the statement on the meeting Vizzotti-Prado Quinteros, the Ministry of Health reported that the official

promised to arrange a meeting with the Commission National Immunization

CONAIN and B to review the two vaccines most advanced candidates

:

Sovereign 2 and Abdala

,

also They spoke of an addendum to the trust signed between Argentina and Cuba five years ago for the purchase of medicines and vaccines in exchange for the purchase of food products.

PDL

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Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-04-01

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