Argentina to give Russian vaccine to 300,000 people before end of year

President Fernández said that Argentina will vaccinate 300,000 people before the end of the year with Sputnik V. The president also announced that during January and February they will apply 5 million doses of the Russian vaccine that will enter into circulation as of March other developments such as Pfizer and Oxford and AstraZeneca.

On Wednesday, Russia presented its vaccine before the UN in an event in which the Russian Minister of Health, Mikhail Murashko, and scientists from the Gamaleya research center participated. Since Putin's government had assured that the antidote against Covid-19 has a 95% effectiveness.

Murashko explained that 100 thousand people have already been vaccinated in Russia and that by December they will be able to vaccinate 2 million people with the two necessary doses.

"This week we are signing the contract with Russia and we are expecting to receive 300 thousand vaccines from Russia by the end of the year. We will be able to vaccinate 300 thousand people before the end of the year," Alberto Fernández said.

As he explained in a dialogue with El Destape, the government's intention is to vaccinate a sufficient number of people to mitigate the effects of a possible second wave before the cold temperatures reach the southern hemisphere.

"In the summer, Europe relaxed, opened up all tourism and gastronomy, and as soon as autumn arrived, the pandemic returned with enormous ferocity," said the President about the situation that the Old Continent is currently experiencing, where the resurgence of the coronavirus caused all countries to have to reverse the opening efforts.

One of the advantages of the Russian vaccine is that it can be kept between 2 and 8 degrees, which makes the logistics of applying it easier. On the other hand, other products such as Pfizer's require special freezers that reach 70 degrees below zero.

"We have to make an epic of all Argentineans," said Alberto. He pointed out that the objective is "to vaccinate first those who are most at risk, health and safety personnel, teachers, people over 60 years old, and people between 18 - 60 years old who have a prevalent disease".

On Wednesday, the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to approve the use of the Covid vaccine. It is the antidote developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and as published by LPO it will be applied from December 7th.

The British government bought 40 million doses that will be used to vaccinate 20 million people, since it requires two applications. The first to receive the antidote are people in the at-risk population (those over 80) and health workers who are on the "front line" of fighting the pandemic.

The U.S. vaccination program also expects to begin administering the vaccine to some Americans in December, as the first round of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine arrived in the country this Saturday on planes specially adapted for the care the product requires.