Argentina: COVID-19 vaccinations with Sputnik V start

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Argentines will be vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine beginning on Tuesday.

"The doses of the Sputnik V vaccine that arrived from Russia will be available in each province and on Tuesday Dec. 29 at 9 am the simultaneous vaccination will begin throughout the country," President Alberto Fernandez said Sunday in a tweet.

"We continue to work together because our only concern is the health of Argentine men and women," Fernandez added.

The announcement came days after the first batch of 300,000 doses arrived in Argentina, following an authorization for emergency use of the vaccine granted by Argentina’s National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices, or ANMAT. The country agreed to buy around 10 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Another agreement to procure 22 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine has also been reached.

Argentina, with a population of nearly 45M, has registered nearly 1.6 million coronavirus cases and more than 42,600 deaths, according to a running tally of the US-based Johns Hopkins University.