The Argentinian Ministry of Health took delivery on Thursday of the first doses of Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 produced in the country with the active ingredient provided by Russia, the government said.
Read also: Covid-19: three million doses of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V will be produced in Argentina
A total of more than 1.14 million doses, 995,000 of component 1 and 152,000 of component 2, were produced by the Argentine private laboratory Richmond from antigens provided by the Gamaleia Institute in Russia, the ministry said. Health in a press release.
A vaccine at two different doses
Unlike other two-dose anti-Covid vaccines, Sputnik V is the only one designed using the “
heterogeneous booster approach
,” which uses two different adenoviruses in each dose.
"
This is the first delivery of the three million doses of Sputnik that will be produced in August by the Richmond laboratories
," said the Russian Fund for Direct Investments (RDIF) in a statement issued in Moscow, stressing that Argentina was the first South American country to authorize Sputnik V before being the first to produce it.
Read also: Covid-19: Argentina begins its vaccination campaign with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V
If Argentina began its vaccination campaign on December 29, giving priority to the vaccination of the greatest number with the first dose, delays in the delivery of the second doses of Sputnik V had made it brandish in July the threat of 'a breach of contract.
Fearing the arrival of the more contagious coronavirus delta variant, the South American country began last week administering second doses of Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines to people who received the first dose of Sputnik V.
20% of the country fully vaccinated
To date, 26.4 million people (58.6% of the 45 million population) have received a first dose of vaccine in Argentina, and 9.3 million (20.6%) have a complete vaccination schedule.
In Mexico, the state laboratory Birmex must also produce the Sputnik V vaccine under a similar partnership with the Gamaleïa laboratory. Ecuador also mentioned having established with Russia "
a roadmap
" for "
the establishment of a manufacturing plant for the Sputnik V vaccine
". According to RDIF, Sputnik V has been approved by 69 countries around the world.