MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

COVID-19 vaccines keep pouring into Argentina, including those of Pfizer for teenagers

“There are no urban zones under epidemiological alarm,” said Vizzotti after dodging quarantine following a trip to Moscow

Argentine Health Minister Carla Vizzotti Tuesday announced the first 580,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were slated to arrive in the country next month. These chemicals will be allocated chiefly to adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age, Vizzotti explained.

The final agreement was closed after more than a year of controversy over the lack of the vaccine from this particular laboratory. “We were able to advance in a definitive contract for 580,000 doses for September and the rest of the 20 million doses for the fourth quarter,” the Minister pointed out during a joint press conference with Sports Minister Matías Lammens, where the retorn of crowds to football stadiums was also announced.

However, Vizzotti was cautious and warned the arrival of the immunizers was to be announced weekly “depending on the availability of doses and flights.” nevertheless, she said the first shipment was due in the week of September 6 and “would be 100,620 doses.”

Another 160,690 sera are expected to arrive the following week and the remainder of the 580,000 injections was due for the second half of the month.

According to official sources, 19,500,000 doses will arrive in October, November and December with weekly shipments depending on the availability of flights.

In the midst of the controversy over the delay in the application of vaccines in stock, Vizzotti explained that this week “4.5 million doses” will be sent to the provinces. And she specified that in the remainder of August “2.2 million AstraZeneca” (shots) and two new shipments from Sinopharm will arrive in the country.

Meanwhile community transmission of the Delta variant has been detected in Lanús, a municipality outiside the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) but still withink what is unofficially known as Greater BA or even Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA).

Buenos Aires Province Health Minister Nicolás Kreplak confirmed that the patient had not had any contact with people with a recent foreign travel history and was doing well while in isolation. The patient is believed to have caught the virus while commuting to CABA which is common practice among millions of people every day.

Lanús City Hall Health Secretary Gustavo Sieli explained local authorities were in charge of the follow-up of the 39-year-old man and his closest circle. “The family nucleus is evolving correctly,” said Sieli in a radio interview.

Seli also explained the patient had been vaccinated with one dose of AstraZeneca.

In view of this case, Vizzotti admitted community circulation of the Delta strain was a fact, although it was not “the predominant circulation” at this time.

Vizzotti had returned Tuesday from Moscow where she went to to speed up the delivery of doses of the Sputnik vaccine and showed up for the press conference without observing any self-isolations. According to sanitary measures in place, officials are exempted from that step.

The Minister brought 650,000 doses and the active component to formulate another 750 thousand injections locally aboard her Aerolineas Argentinas flight and added therer were more of them coming up.

She also underscored there were “zero urban agglomerations in a situation of epidemiological alarm” and confirmed that ICUs were under no additional stress, as the the country is going through the 13th consecutive week of “decrease in the number of cases” of infections and week 11, also, of decrease in the number of hospitalizations in intensive care units.