And the vaccines that were to be packaged in Mexico? Argentina rages against AstraZeneca – El Financiero

The South American country signed an agreement in August 2020 to produce the active principle of the inoculant in a private Argentine laboratory and send it to Mexico for its packaging and subsequent distribution in Latin America. By the end of the year, it became the first country outside Britain to approve the use of the vaccine.

Argentina expected the first of the 22 million doses that corresponded to it by this agreement for local production and packaging in Mexico in March. He did not receive any.

A government source who requested a reservation of identity due to the sensitivity of the matter told the AP that Health Minister Vizzotti and adviser Nicolini expressed their discomfort to Kent over AstraZeneca’s breach of the agreement and asked that the British government intercedes with the laboratory so that Argentina “can retain part of the production of the active principle” and apply it to its population.

The officials also offered as an alternative for Argentina to receive delayed vaccines through the COVAX fund created by international organizations such as the World Health Organization to supply doses to countries with fewer resources. Through this mechanism, the South American country was benefited with several thousand Covishield doses manufactured in India with the same active ingredient as the AstraZeneca vaccine, but the serious health situation in this Asian country has put a lock on new shipments.

AstraZeneca acknowledged the delay and committed last week to regularize shipments in the first half of this year., although he did not give a date.

With more than three million infections and almost 65 thousand deaths, the pressure on the Alberto Fernández government increased due to the slowness of the vaccination operation. So far 8 million vaccines have been applied out of a total population of 40 million. Only a million people received the two doses.

In this context of scarcity, Left-wing parties presented a bill to Congress to declare the local mAbxience laboratory of public utility, which produces the active principle of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Buenos Aires, and thus guarantee the vaccination of the local population.

For the moment, the Argentine government is committed to diplomacy with Great Britain, a country with which relations have historically been marked by the conflict over the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands.

“We ask the ambassador to continue looking for more and better opportunities, between both states, through the University of Oxford in order to explore the possibility of being part of the vaccine production chain, in the short and medium term, not only for the Argentina but for Latin America, thinking about the strategic role of our country, “said the Minister of Health in a statement.

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