Argentine President Alberto Fernández took this Thursday (21) the first dose of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, at the Posadas hospital in Buenos Aires. He was the first representative to start vaccination against the coronavirus in Latin America.
The first 200,000 doses of vaccine imported by Argentina have already been applied to officials in the public health system. The initial phase of vaccination, which began on December 29, also allowed some politicians under the age of 60 – according to the government, to set an example on the importance of vaccination.
The list includes, for example, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, who is 49 years old and has taken both doses of the drug.
The age reduction was made because Antat (the Argentine agency equivalent to Anvisa) had not yet recommended the Russian vaccine for the population over 60 – there were doubts about the possible side effects in this age group.
Fernández, who is 61, missed the first wave. This week, finally, Anmat authorized the emergency application of Sputnik V also in the elderly.
According to the agency, the Russian vaccine has shown an efficacy of 92% among the population over 60 years and 98% among the youngest, during the four weeks of application in the country.
The Argentine government bought 20 million doses of Sputnik V from the Instituto Gamaleya. The next batch, which is due to be withdrawn in Moscow in the coming days, adds an additional 5 million doses.
Argentina also has agreements with the University of Oxford (in partnership with AstraZeneca) and with the Covax Facility consortium. These vaccines do not yet have a date.
After taking the vaccine, wearing a mask, the Argentine president posted on Twitter a thank you to Instituto Gamaleya, “to those who worked to get the vaccine to us and to all health workers for their enormous commitment. “.
“Let’s get vaccinated,” he wrote.
More than 46,000 people have died in Argentina from Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And at least 1.8 million cases have been confirmed.