MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sinopharm's COVID-19 drug good for children aged 3 to 11, Argentine health authorities say

The new batch will allow for the coverage of 5 million adolescents that we have in Argentina

Argentine Health Minister Carla Vizzotti Friday announced the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine had been approved for use on children aged 3 to 11.

The minister also pointed out Friday 3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech drug were due in the country in October to advance in the inoculation of adolescents without comorbidities.

“Today the [Federal Drug Agency] ANMAT confirms that we are in a position to advance the authorization of the use of the Sinopharm vaccine in pediatrics for children between 3 and 11 years old. This is a huge step in the vaccination campaign and adds to the escalation of adolescent vaccination that we have planned for the month of October since between October 4 and 27, the Pfizer laboratory informed us that more than 7 million are arriving,” Vizzotti told reporters.

The new batch will allow for the coverage of “5 million adolescents that we have in Argentina,” she added.

Vizzotti also explained she head undergone appendicitis surgery at a private clinic in Buenos Aires instead of at a publich hospital because she does have medical insurance and if she had chosen a public place for her treatment she would have deprived someone without insurance from the spot he or she might have needed.

The “Public Health” minister had been under heavy criticism for not seeking treatment at a public institution, claiming she distrusted the very own system she herself heads.

“The Ministry of Health is not only [the Ministry] of public Health. It is the Ministry of Health that is in charge of Social Security, prepaid medicine, that is in charge of health of the country,” she argued.

She also spoke of a “misconception which has spread, not only now, but every time that an official, especially from this government, goes somewhere other than a public hospital.”

On Tuesday, Vizzotti felt severe pain and had to leave a conference in Mar del Plata for the City of Buenos Aires where she was admitted into the Otamendi Sanatorium for surgery.