After a bump in vaccination, the Ministry of Health, led by Carla Vizzotti, this week got the necessary vaccines to give her a huge advance in the application of second doses: between this Wednesday and Saturday will arrive 2,500,000 Oxford / AstraZeneca, with the active substance manufactured in Argentina and 1.600.000 Sputnik V, dosis 2, also completed in the country at the Richmond Laboratory. If the vaccination structure works normally, between October 10 and 15, all those over 18 years of age who received the first dose will complete their schedule with the second dose. In parallel, October will be the month of adolescents, vaccination that began in the Province of Buenos Aires last week and for which CABA opened the registration on Tuesday.
The problem faced by the Ministry of Health is that in the last month several million doses of Sinopharm arrived – during the weekend they unloaded in Ezeiza no less than 3,072,000 – but it happens that those who received the first component in July and August, they already received the second dose. Therefore, there is no one for whom to complete the vaccination. But, With the Chinese vaccine, the authorization of the Anmat is awaited to apply them to adolescents and too Boys. That would give an enormous speed to the vaccination of minors. Sinopharm is most likely the vaccine for boys ages 5 to 11, as applied in China.
In any case, for now what is being used in adolescents are the Pfizers that are arriving little by little. The Health Ministry reported that another 160,000 doses are arriving this week, in addition to 421,000 that were already received in September. The rate will climb steadily in the first and second week of October, when 3,200,000 doses arrive. With that, you will really move forward with teens ages 12-17. For now, CABA is only registering, while the Province of Buenos Aires has already vaccinated 290,000
But the bulk of vaccination at this stage is concentrated on completing the second component for those who are still missing. And this has to do with the vaccines that were in short supply: Oxford / AstraZeneca and Sputnik V, dose 2.
- Argentina signed an agreement with the British vaccine and the Mexican government to jointly produce millions of doses destined for all of Latin America. From that agreement, which is long overdue, 2,500,000 doses are coming this week. Half arrive on a flight this Wednesday and the other half on Saturday. All the active substances were produced by the Garin mAbxience laboratory, owned by the Sigman group, which more than fulfilled its commitment. The problems were in the completion and quality controls carried out in Mexico, Albuquerque (United States) and in the United Kingdom.
- But to this amount arriving from Mexico, 549,600 Oxford / AstraZeneca donated by Canada were added, not to Argentina, but to the United Nations Covax mechanism and which arrived on a LAN flight on Monday night. The country bought more than nine million doses from Covax, but the equalization program in the global distribution of vaccines has been failing, essentially because the laboratories – especially the North American ones – sold their production to the central countries.
- Adding what comes from Mexico and Covax, there are more than three million doses of Oxford / AstraZeneca, an amount with which more than enough shifts can be given to those over 18 who are waiting for the second component of that same vaccine.
- Something similar, although smaller in volume, is the panorama with Sputnik V. The Anmat released 1,600,000 doses 2 this Tuesday, finished by the Richmond Laboratory, owned by Marcelo Figueiras. The amount will allow to complete the scheme of many people who preferred not to combine vaccines, but decided to wait to have two doses of Sputnik, a very reliable vaccine. To give an example, CABA needed 100,000 Sputnik 2 to reach 70% of porteños with a complete scheme and from what Richmond delivers, they will have 112,000. In this way, the objective –70% with complete vaccination – set by Minister Fernán Quirós to make the chinstrap in the open air non-mandatory would be achieved.
- With the release of 1,600,000 doses 2, Richmond adds 3,500,000 deliveries of this second component, but has already produced more than eight million. Therefore, with successive approvals, the gap will be closed and everyone who is waiting for the second dose will be met.
- The outlook is rosy from several angles.
- The vast majority of those over the age of 18 will have both doses within two weeks.
- Teen vaccinations kicked off and everyone 12-17 is likely to get their first dose in October.
- Sinopharm vaccination of children will most likely be licensed and vaccines are available.
- “Infections and deaths are reduced faster than thought,” immunologist Pedro Cahn told Radio 10 this Sunday.
- The Delta variant runs a lot slower than expected. It is a scientific question that is not entirely clear. The truth is that throughout the region, including in Brazil, where it became the majority in several states, deaths continue to decline.
It is clear that the set of data will have to be carefully followed because the virus has given surprise after surprise, but the truth is that the situation is evolving towards a new normal. And the new openings are not an electoral maneuver as the opposition tries to install. They are the product of a very hard effort – with successes and errors surely – in the field of health, in the policy of obtaining vaccines from all possible origins and in a fabulous vaccination campaign, which demolished the anti-vaccines.
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