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(Adds talks aimed at financing Cuban vaccines)
BUENOS AIRES, April 28 (Reuters) - Argentina's government
said on Wednesday that it met with representatives of drugmaker
AstraZeneca Plc to ask about "difficulties" in the
production of its COVID-19 vaccine and supply of it to the
country.
Health Minister Carla Vizzotti formally requested a report
on the progress in the production and quality control of the
vaccine that is partially being made in Argentina and completed
in Mexico and the United States.
"We had a new meeting with the president of AstraZeneca
Argentina and representatives of the firm to ask them to report
as soon as possible about the possible difficulties that the
vaccine production process is going through," Vizzotti said.
She also demanded an estimated delivery schedule for the
vaccines, saying the information was "vital for the organization
of the vaccination campaign."
Argentina struck a deal last November with AstraZeneca to
receive around 22 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine being
developed with the University of Oxford, with the aim to start
deliveries in the first half of this year.
The vaccines were meant to be produced regionally by
Argentine firm mAbxience and Mexican laboratory Liomont. The
latter has faced production delays, which has raised tensions as
governments struggle to ramp up inoculation programs.
The delays in U.S. and European vaccines arriving in the
region have pushed countries like Mexico and Argentina toward
deals with Russia and China.
Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Sola met with Cuban
Ambassador Pedro Pablo Prada to discuss an Argentine proposal to
help finance an increase in the output of Cuban vaccines, the
ministry said in a statement.
"Our country awaits the completion of the talks at the
presidential level with the objective that once they are
concluded, to be able to accelerate a possible agreement," it
said.
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan and Walter Bianchi; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
