90-year-old becomes one millionth to be vaccinated in Argentina

A 90-year-old woman from Buenos Aires Province has become the one millionth person to receive a vaccine against Covid-19 in Argentina.

Elsa Nélida Alonso, from Cañuelas, was all smiles as she received her shot on Saturday (February 27) at the Hospital de Cuenca Alta Néstor Kirchner SAMIC from nurse María de los Ángeles Martínez.

"I did it!" she exclaimed in comments reported by local media, before being overcome by emotion.

According to official government data, a total of 1,005,665 vaccine doses had been given across the country as of Saturday night. A total of 713,001 people have received their first dose, while 292,664 have received both.

The Alberto Fernández administration has now launched a web page with a real-time tally of the number of jabs given. It was launched by Health Minister Carla Vizzotti in the wake of the so-called 'VIP vaccination' scandal, following the resignation of her predecessor Ginés González García.

According to the tally, Argentina has received and distributed a total of 1,738,410 vaccine to the country’s 23 provinces and Buenos Aires City, the nation’s capital.

This weekend, the government began distributing the vaccine produced by the Sinopharm laboratory in China, which arrived in the country on Thursday – the third jab to be used in the country’s mass immunisation push. 

The government hopes that the vaccination rate will speed up as a result, with pressure building on the ruling coalition over the queue-jumping scandal.

– TIMES/PERFIL