New delivery of 800,000 Sputnik V jabs due to arrive in Argentina

Argentina’s government has confirmed that it will take delivery of a shipment of more than 800,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines later this evening.

The shots, which are currently onboard an Aerolíneas Argentinas plane that departed Fiumicino International Airport in Rome at 10.52am this morning after a technical stopover, are due to arrive at Ezeiza international airport at around 8.15pm local time.

“After a delay in logistics on the ground and due to the large amount of weight we are transporting, our A330 [plane] made a technical stopover in Rome from where it took off minutes ago and will be arriving in the country at 8.15pm with more doses of the vaccine. Sputnik V,” said head of Aerolineas Argentinas, Pablo Ceriani, in a post on Twitter.

This will be the 12th delivery the national state-run airline has carried to Argentina from Moscow and will lift the total number of vaccine doses received by the government to close to nine million. On Sunday, officials took delivery of a new delivery of more than 864,000 shots of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine, delivered via the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Covax scheme.

"Each vaccine that reaches Argentina is a breath of fresh air and hope that we will be able to turn the page of the pandemic. As the president has instructed us, we have to go exploring new possibilities and be demanding," said Cabinet Chief Santiago Cafiero.

– TIMES/PERFIL