By Nicolás Misculin
BUENOS AIRES, May 11 (Reuters) - Argentina is set to receive
4 million doses of AstraZeneca Plc's coronavirus vaccine
in May, the government said on Tuesday, after long delays to a
deal struck late last year stoked tensions in the South American
nation.
The country, which is battling a fierce second wave of
COVID-19 infections, has vaccinated 9.2 million people so far
out of a total population of close to 45 million. Only 1.4
million have received the full two doses.
"This will change the course of the second wave of the
pandemic in Argentina," Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said in a
statement shared by the government.
The vaccines are part of a deal Argentina struck last
November for some 22.4 million doses of the vaccine developed by
AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
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.
Argentina also expects to receive 861,600 doses of
AstraZeneca's vaccine this month through the COVAX program
backed by the World Health Organization. The country has
reported over 3.16 million cases of COVID-19 and 67,821 deaths
linked to the virus.
The center-left Peronist government is hoping to speed up
vaccinations to boost a faltering economy and improve its
chances in midterm elections at the end of the year.
(Reporting by Nicolás Misculin; Editing by Adam Jourdan and
Peter Cooney)
Astrazeneca (AZN)