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Vaccines for Argentina: United States rules out AstraZeneca and adds uncertainty about what dose it would send

2021-06-04T14:20:20.110Z


He informed that only Pfizer, Moderna and J&J will donate. And that countries must have the appropriate regulatory framework to receive them.


Paula Lugones

06/04/2021 9:54 AM

  • Clarín.com

  • World

Updated 06/04/2021 9:54 AM

The United States

added more uncertainty

and confusion to the issue of the distribution of the coronavirus vaccines that it will donate to Argentina and other countries.

The US official in charge of global coordination against Covid said this Friday that it

is necessary

for countries to have the regulatory framework and the vaccine approval process to receive the donation and that in this item

only Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson will donate.

, which for various reasons do not have a total green light in our country.

AstraZeneca, no

In the donations announced on Thursday

there are no doses of AstraZeneca

(which is approved in Argentina) and they cannot be exchanged for one another through the Covax mechanism, the official clarified.

The White House announced on Thursday that it would donate 25 million vaccines to the world and of these 6 million would go to various Latin American countries, including Argentina, without mentioning the number of doses to each state or brand names.

Non-Pfizer vials.

Photo: AFP

He said that the doses to the region would be distributed through the global Covax mechanism, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has already assigned various items to Argentina, mostly from Astra Zeneca.

In a virtual press conference for journalists from around the world, in which

Clarín

participated

, Gayle Smith, the coordinator of the global response to Covid of the State Department, answered a question about the possibility that Latin American countries that do not have approved vaccines from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson or Moderna could exchange them for AstraZeneca through the Covax mechanism.

"Countries

must have the appropriate regulatory framework

and the necessary approval process to receive the type of vaccine that is being proposed," he said without giving more details on whether the approval should be sanitary, legal or both.

Injections ready with Pfizer.

Photo: AP

The

ANMAT approved Pfizer

months ago, but it has not yet managed to sign a contract with the laboratory, a fact that is mired in strong controversy.

Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have not yet received approval from the Argentine health agency.

Experts consulted by

Clarín

in Washington a few days ago had already anticipated that the lack of approval in our country could

be an inconvenience

when requesting vaccines from the United States.

AstraZeneca is fully approved in Argentina, along with Sputnik and Sinopharm.

The United States announced several weeks ago that it would donate

60 million doses of AstraZeneca to the world

, but said it would only do so when it was approved by the FDA, the highest health body in the United States, which has not yet given the green light and does not seem to being in too much trouble.

We have no AstraZeneca doses to share now

, we have 60 million doses to share in the future that were announced by the President awaiting FDA approval to ratify their safety.

At this point it will not be possible, ”Smith said.

"But one of the things we need to do with the Covax consultations is try to

combine the vaccines

(with the countries) to distribute them as effectively as possible," he added.

The White House announced Thursday that 6 million vaccines will arrive in Latin America through Covax and

mentioned as beneficiaries Brazil, Argentina

, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti and other countries of the Caribbean community, in addition to the Dominican Republic.

The efforts of Argentina

But the Biden government disappointed - at least for now - Argentine expectations of receiving doses beyond those that come through Covax.

The Argentine ambassador in Washington, Jorge Argüello, had been working intensively in the US capital to demonstrate the urgency of our country's health to receive vaccines

directly,

given the alarming number of cases and the lack of doses.

But on Thursday the White House said that the beneficiaries of the direct allocation (another 6 million) will be "urgently needy countries" such as Mexico, Canada, South Korea, the West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen, as well as United Nations workers in those countries.

Argentina does not appear in this group.

As

Clarín

learned

, Argüello continues trying in these hours to achieve the highest number of doses with meetings with White House officials.

But all the ambassadors of the region are after the hunt for what is today the most precious asset in the world.

Washington, correspondent

ap


Look also

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The obsession is with death;

not with Pfizer

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-06-04

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