Covax delivery: 657,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrive in Argentina

Argentina received an additional 657,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Amsterdam via the World Health Organisation's Covax scheme on Wednesday, a timely arrival as deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 75,000 deaths.

The government also said that a new shipment of the Sputnik vaccine from the Gamaleya Institute was also scheduled to arrive at Ezeiza International Airport later in the day from Moscow. That delivery, made up of more than 470,000 doses (390,035 of the first jab, 80,000 of the second),  would take Argentina past 15.48 million vaccine doses, said a statement from the Health Ministry.

Argentina began its vaccination campaign on December 29 and since then, some 11.3 million doses have already been applied. Around 8.8 million people have received one dose, with 2.2 million fully immunised.

The health system is feeling the strain of a brutal second wave at present. As of Wednesday midday, a total of 75,056 deaths related to Covid-19 have been reported, with more than 3.5 million infections.

The recent acceleration of cases and the high daily death tolls from Covid prompted the government to order a strict nine-day period of confinement (which started last Saturday) to protect the health system.

– TIMES/AFP