The head of the National Health Surveillance Directorate said that it is a very “interesting” vaccine for its eventual acquisition.
Although Covaxin is not yet approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) or the FDA, María Antonieta Gamarra commented that documentation is being submitted to the EMA for its emergency use authorization. In the same way, in Mexico and Brazil they intend to buy this biological, so our country is in permanent conversations with the Mexican regulatory authority to update us on the process.
Until now, as transmitted by Dr. Gamarra, in Mexico they have commented that phase three of the clinical trial has already been concluded, therefore, this vaccine already has the favorable opinion of the Committee of Experts of the Federal Commission for Protection against Risks (Cofepris) from that country.
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Experts give it their go-ahead
It seems to Gamarra a very good reference that a group of experts unanimously approved this vaccine, so he believes that the authorization for emergency use will be a mere administrative procedure of a few days.
Both Cofepris and Ambisa (Environmental and Sanitation) of Brazil are regulatory authorities certified by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
María Antonieta Gamarra mentioned that it is a vaccine with a proven efficacy of just over 80%. In addition, its conditions of conservation and transport are interesting.
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They assure that 64 thousand doses will arrive this week
As for the biologicals that will arrive soon in the country, Gamarra mentioned that this week the 64,000 from the Covax mechanism have to arrive, as they had guaranteed that they would be there before the end of the month.
Gamarra is waiting for the Customs System to notify him that the biologicals have already arrived.
“Today I have a meeting with PAHO to see news about the shipment. As far as I know, they were ready, waiting for space on the plane ”, the official explained.
In addition, a shipment from Qatar, consisting of 200,000 doses as a donation, is expected. Likewise, with this country we intend to purchase another 200,000 more doses than those donated.
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In talks with Moderna
Between today and tomorrow, Gamarra reported, a virtual meeting will be held with representatives of the Moderna vaccine, who want to consult regulatory and legal issues.
“Between today and tomorrow we are waiting for that call to be able to acquire those doses. We are interested in talking with them to comment on our purchase intention ”, Gamarra mentioned.
He stressed that the Moderna brand is very convenient, since the temperature it requires is -20ºC, so conservation and transport are very feasible.
He recalled, at the same time, that in recent days the Ministry of Health went to visit the warehouses of the Harrison family, which has equipment to house very low-grade vaccines. “I myself went and saw the ‘ultrafrizer’, which is already working. As for the Moderna vaccine, which is kept at less than 20 degrees, our PAI warehouse has that possibility, but if we manage to arrange with Pfizer, the ‘ultrafrizer’ will be required ”, he said.
What will be had
In total, we are awaiting 200,000 Qatar-donated Moderna vaccines, plus another 200,000 exactly the same that we would buy. Also this week the 64,000 that the Covax mechanism owes us would arrive. The response from Russia is still awaited, a country to which we have already paid for a million doses, of which 4,000 have arrived. There are talks with India that they hope to resolve in a short time, but there is still no official talk of quantities of biologicals.
What you already have
Last week, from Covax they sent 36,000 doses – of the almost 4,300,000 that are paid and must send. These vaccines are in addition to the 27,000 already obtained through international cooperation and the Russian Investment Fund.
Due to the delay of Covax, Salud was forced to look for alternatives to obtain the anti-COVID vaccine. In this sense, our country acquired -through the Russian Investment Fund– 1.000.000 of inoculators Sputnik V, developed by the European country, whose first batch arrived in the country with some 4.000 the 18th of February, being the first vaccines against the new coronavirus that arrived in Paraguay.
Subsequently, the 6th of March arrived at Silvio Pettirossi airport 20.000 Chinese vaccine dose CoronaVac. This item was obtained through a donation from Chile, through a “International cooperation”.
One week after the arrival of the vaccines from Chile, on March 12 another donation of just 3.000 dosis chinas Sinopharm sent through the United Arab Emirates, thus adding 27.000 dose.
On the other hand, the Government reported that they are taking the corresponding steps to get some 2.000.000 dose from the United States. Key to obtaining this would be the participation of Taiwan, which has the fund it donated to the country for social housing, in addition to collaborating in the negotiations.
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