Second round of Russian vaccine against coronavirus arrives in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 16 (Reuters) – The second round of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus arrived in Argentina on Saturday to continue the vaccination plan planned by the government to control the advance of the pandemic in the country.

The arrival of 300,000 doses of the vaccine took place on a special flight of the flag airline Aerolineas Argentinas from Moscow.

The vaccines, which complete the dose of the first shipment made days before Christmas, arrived at the Ezeiza international airport, in the suburbs of Buenos Aires.

At the end of December, vaccination with the first dose began for members of the health personnel most exposed to the contagions amid local controversy over the safety of the Russian-origin vaccine, which critics say is effective and effective. its side effects are not fully proven.

Cases of coronavirus in the country increased in recent days and the first case of the British strain of the coronavirus was detected.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Roberto Salvarezza, said on his Twitter account that the variant of SARS-CoV-2 from the United Kingdom was detected in a traveler from abroad.

Positive cases of COVID-19 in the South American country total 1,783,047, of which 1,561,963 are recovered patients. The total of deaths reaches 45,227 people, said the Ministry of Health in its latest report.

Argentina expects to receive another five million Sputnik V units in January, which is applied in two doses, and in February 14.7 million.

This week, Paraguay became the eighth country outside of Russia to approve the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow.

Other countries that approved the emergency use of the Sputnik V vaccine in addition to Argentina are Bolivia, Venezuela, Algeria and Serbia.

(Reporting by Walter Bianchi)