Chinese subsidiary Sinopharm breaks vaccine supply contract with Paraguay

ASUNCIÓN, Jul 31 –  Paraguay’s public health ministry said on Saturday that company G42, a subsidiary of China’s Sinopharm in the United Arab Emirates, unilaterally terminated a contract for the supply of the Hayat Vax vaccine against COVID -19 to the country.

The contract contemplated the purchase of one million doses for a total of 30 million dollars, said a statement from the health ministry.

Paraguay received 250,000 doses of the vaccine at the end of May for which it paid 7.5 million dollars and the company reimbursed it on Friday 5.6 million dollars that it had paid for one of four agreed installments to cover the remaining balance, he added. the note.

The statement said that the company “has made use of the right to terminate the unilateral contract, without explanation, according to the negotiation clauses established in the purchase process,” but the Minister of Health, Julio Borba, told local television that the The reasons were “strictly geopolitical.”

Paraguay does not have diplomatic relations with China since it is the only nation in South America that maintains ties with Taiwan, considered a rebel province by the Asian giant.

The country has struggled to access vaccines and its immunization program gained momentum in the last month thanks to the donation of two million doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the United States. The United States recently highlighted Paraguay’s relationship with Taiwan as an example to the world.

The Ministry of Health assured, however, that the second doses for people who have already received the Hayat Vax vaccine were insured.