Russia to supply Argentina with COVID-19 vaccine

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Argentina has agreed with Russia to buy 10 million doses of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, President Alberto Fernandez said on Thursday.

"We have signed the contract with the Sovereign Fund of the Russian Federation, which has guaranteed the supply of the vaccine for Argentina. I would like to personally thank President Vladimir Putin, who made sure that we could access the vaccine at the same time as the most important countries in the world. We will be able to vaccinate 10 million Argentinians in January and February," said Fernandez in a press conference.

The first group of individuals to receive the vaccine will be people with underlying medical conditions, all those aged 60 and over, doctors, nurses, military personnel and teachers.

The president explained that the first batch of 600,000 Sputnik V doses will arrive in December. The vaccine will cost less than $20 per person, its developers said.

"The first one to be vaccinated is going to be me," he said to encourage people to get vaccinated when it arrives.

The announcement of the expected vaccine comes the day of the first anniversary of the president's election.

Argentina reports nearly 1.5 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 40,000 fatalities.