Coronavirus: Uruguay immunizes thanks to the Pfizer vaccines that Argentina missed

April 16, 202114:27

The laboratory offer was for 13.3 million vaccines. But for months, the Argentine government did not respond to Pfizer. Neither by yes nor by no. Just silence and haggling, but to reduce the number of doses. Until it was too late. Then, Uruguay seized the opportunity and can now immunize with the vaccinations that he missed Argentina.

In mid-December, the president Luis Lacalle Pou He picked up the phone and called Buenos Aires from his cell phone. He thus managed to open the doors that led him to access 2 million vaccines for his country, with a negotiation that lasted just under a month since he established contact with the North American-German pharmaceutical consortium.

“It was a tragedy in two acts”, a source informed of how the negotiations were developed before the consultation of THE NATION. “First they ‘slept’ the offer from Pfizer because the Argentine Ministry of Health was deluded with the vaccine AstraZeneca, but when that vaccine began to register setbacks and the Moscow option grew [por la vacuna Sputnik V], Ginés [por el entonces ministro de Salud, Ginés González García] sought to reactivate the dialogue with Pfizer. It was too late, “he said.

The contrast between the efforts on both banks of the Río de la Plata led, as could be expected, to diametrically opposite results. At the same time that Alberto Fernandez announced the night before last new restrictions by the explosion of the second hello of contagions, a Lufthansa plane landed at Carrasco international airport with 80,000 doses of Pfizer. As it happens every Wednesday, with Germanic regularity and precision, for a month and a half. Ironies of fate.

Those flights were the result of the “presidential diplomacy” that Lacalle Pou faced at the end of December. He did so, after reversing the initial decision of his Ministry of Health, which had also missed the “Pfizer option.”

According to senior Argentine and Uruguayan public and private sources to THE NATION, the turning point occurred near the end of the year holidays. While the Fernández government continued on a round trip with that laboratory, Lacalle Pou contacted the leadership of Pfizer in Argentina and asked for their help in accessing vaccines.

The call from the Uruguayan president was remarkably effective. In less than a month, his country signed a contract to purchase two million doses, which has just been expanded for the purchase of a million more. On December 24, the confidentiality agreement was signed.

From Buenos Aires, however, the Argentine government qualifies that version. “Pfizer was running the goal for us. They misbehaved. I’ll give you an example: when Congress approved the bill with that clause on the possibility of suing the laboratories for ‘negligence’, Pfizer didn’t say anything until it was too late and the President had already signed that bill into law and signed it into law ” recalled a tall fountain. “Why didn’t you complain before? We could have moved forward with a partial veto and removed that clause! “, he expressed.

From the team led by González García they also admitted that the initial tentative figure was 13.3 million, which was reduced to 3 million. But they attributed this decrease to a “bottleneck” in Pfizer’s production capacity and demanded to contextualize what happened. “For months, AstraZeneca’s vaccine seemed more advantageous than Pfizer’s. It required less refrigeration logistics, a single dose instead of two doses, and it was much cheaper, in addition to offering to develop it in Argentina “, they stressed.

From Buenos Aires, they also denied that Montevideo had bought an alleged batch of vaccines, already planned and firm for Argentina. “What happened was that Uruguay managed to immunize thanks to the opportunity that Argentina and Brazil missed. It is very different ”, they remarked.

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“When Lacalle Pou picked up the phone, he stated that the situation in his country was getting complicated and he needed all the collaboration that was possible,” explained another source familiar with the negotiations. “In this context, Pfizer Argentina called the headquarters in the United States and stated that it was unfeasible for the entire Southern Cone to run out of vaccines, so it supported the Uruguayan request,” he added.

From the United States, they gave the green light to the arguments that came from the southern hemisphere and Montevideo fully accelerated. “In less than 24 hours, Lacalle Pou hired a law firm in New York and moved towards signing the letter of intent”recalled a voice aware of what had happened.

The González García team also objected to that version. “Pfizer had almost nothing to show in the Southern Cone. And they saw that they could look good -and incidentally put pressure on the Argentine government- by throwing a few ‘coins’ at Uruguay “, they graphed. In the weeks that followed, however, another president followed in the footsteps of his Uruguayan counterpart. It was Jair Bolsonaro, who called Pfizer’s global cusp for assistance. It invited to leave behind the previous differences and required 100 million doses. Presidential diplomacy.

The underestimation of what Uruguay has achieved is a matter of perspectives. In five weeks, 300,000 doses of vaccines from the North American-German consortium alone have already arrived at the Carrasco airport, which allows immunization of 10% of the inhabitants of that country. In relation to the population of each country, it is as if some 4 million vaccines had arrived in Ezeiza.

To continue with the comparisons, Uruguay, which started its acquisition plan with a notable delay, has already managed, in percentage terms, to almost triple Argentina’s vaccination rate: 29% versus 11%, depending on the site Our World in Data.

Vaccination table of the countries of the region

Thus, the round trip between the Argentine government and Pfizer would show a remarkable parallel -although more extended in time- than that which occurred between the Casa Rosada and another laboratory, that of Modern, as revealed THE NATION, from weeks ago.

Also in late 2020, another option was opened for the Casa Rosada. Because of their common Armenian origins, the businessman Eduardo Eurnekian he knew the president of the Moderna laboratory, Noubar Afeyan. He contacted him and asked for his help. Afeyan agreed to dialogue at the highest level. And Eurnekian relayed the message to two presidents: Fernández and Lacalle Pou.

“In less than 12 hours, Lacalle Pou called Afeyan; from Argentina, they delayed the response, because they first delegated the contact to the Ministry of Health. Fernández called the month, ”said a source familiar with what had happened. By the time the Argentine was communicated, the answer he received about the shipment of vaccines was “October.”

While Uruguay and Brazil advanced and Moscow grew as an option, sources familiar with the marches and countermarches in Buenos Aires detail, González García tried to reactivate the dialogue channel with Pfizer. He asked the leadership of Buenos Aires for a “testimonial” shipment, a “gesture” that allows you to show results. It was already too late.

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