Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has announced that he will be the country’s first citizen to receive the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 “so that no one is afraid”, after the announcement Thursday of an agreement with Russia for its acquisition.
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“Once it is approved by the ANMAT (National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technologies), I will be the first to be vaccinated so that no one is afraid,” Fernandez said during a press conference about this vaccine.
He thus wishes to reassure the population and oppose the detractors of the mass vaccination against the coronavirus and those who question the reliability of the Russian vaccine.
The center-left president announced that Argentina had signed a contract with the Sovereign Fund of the Russian Federation for the supply of Sputnik V vaccines. “We will be able to have enough doses to be able to vaccinate 10 million Argentines” , did he declare.
He explained that a first shipment of 600,000 doses should allow 300,000 people to be vaccinated, or two doses per person, before the end of the year.
He then plans that 10 of the 13 million estimated at risk can be vaccinated between January and February.
“The contract includes an option to be able to access the doses needed to immunize an additional 5 million people during the month of March,” Fernandez said.
The agreement with Russia is the third vaccine purchase contract signed by Argentina, Fernandez said, after those signed with Britain’s AstraZeneca and Covax, the international mechanism for supplying anti-Covid vaccines to countries in development launched under the aegis of WHO.
Argentina, 44 million inhabitants, has recorded nearly 1.5 million positive cases and deplored more than 40,000 deaths.