(Adds doseage numbers, details on other supply deals, delivery
timeline)
By Danny Ramos
LA PAZ, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Bolivian government said on
Wednesday it had signed a contract with India's Serum Institute
for the supply of 5 million doses of AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccine.
President Luis Arce said that combined with a recent deal to
buy 5.2 million Sputnik V vaccine doses from Russia, Bolivia now
expected to be able to inoculate all of its vaccinable
population.
Both vaccines require two doses to be given, meaning they
would be used to inoculate a total of 5.1 million people from
Bolivia's 11.51 million-strong population.
Bolivia has also signed an agreement through the global
COVAX initiative, which is backed by the World Health
Organization and seeks to ensure equitable distribution of
vaccines, to receive a further 3.6 million doses of a range of
vaccines.
Bolivia, which has endured periods of political and social
disruption since contested elections in 2019 saw longtime
president Evo Morales leave office, has struggled to secure
bilateral vaccine supply deals.
Arce said the first million AstraZeneca doses would arrive
in Bolivia in April. The first 6,000 Sputnik doses are expected
to arrive at the end of January.
Bolivia also took delivery of 650,000 of a promised 1.6
million consignment of COVID-19 tests from South Korea this
week. The nasal antigen tests will allow Bolivia to roll out
widespread testing for the disease for the first time since the
pandemic broke out, potentially resulting in a spike in reported
infection numbers.
On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 1,473 new cases,
176,761 cases in total and 9,454 dead.
(Reporting By Danny Ramos
Writing by Christian Plumb and Aislinn Laing
Editing by Daniel Flynn, Kirsten Donovan)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
