Vizzotti: First shipment of 580,000 Pfizer vaccines will arrive in September

Argentina's government on Tuesday announced that a first shipment of 580,000 shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will arrive in the country in September.

Speaking at a press conference, Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said that the US laboratory and officials had pencilled in weekly deliveries (depending on flight availability) of the Covid-19 shot thereafter, with a total 20 million shots set to arrive by the end of December.

The minister said that the jab – which according to one British study is 88 percent effective against the form of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant – is “highly preventative” for young people.

Vizzoti said that the doses would be used for adolescents aged between 12 and 17, given that the Pfizer shot has been authorised for use in children by health regulators in a number of countries, including the United States and the European Union.

She also recalled that "900,000 doses of [the] Moderna [Covid-19 vaccine] are being distributed to adolescents with risk factors."

The government’s long-awaited agreement with Pfizer, announced at the end of July, came  after months of negotiations and the issuing of a presidential decree specifically to unblock talks which had become bogged down, despite Argentina having supplied volunteers for Phase III trials of the vaccine from the US laboratory.

– TIMES/NA/TÉLAM