An Argentine Airlines plane left at noon at 1:08 pm for Beijing, China (with a previous stopover in Madrid), to search for a shipment of vaccines from the Sinopharm laboratory. Although the government assures that they will arrive 1 million dosesIt is very likely that The capacity of the aircraft is ten percent less, which is 900,000.
Flight AR1050, an Airbus 330-220, is scheduled to return for Thursday 25, and immediately boarding will be used to intensify the official vaccination plan. Argentina, after long negotiations with the Xi Jimping government, agreed to provide more than 20 million vaccines of Chinese origin.
After the scandal triggered by the “VIP vaccination” that was in operation at Posadas de Haedo Hospital and the Ministry of Health, which mandated the dismissal of Minister Gennes Gonzalez Garcia, new Minister Carla Vizotti approved these vaccines last Sunday following suggestions from ANMAT (National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology ). Now, it includes part of the government’s strategy Intensify the control over the application of available doses and that there is greater transparency in health portfolio movements. This week, another 300,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine are also expected to arrive, although it is not yet known when another plane will leave for Moscow.
Pablo Siriani, president of the Argentine airline, provided some details of the flight on his Twitter account. “To transport the vaccines, which in this case require cooling between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius,” environmental containers “, special containers with effective temperature control, will be used. This allows us to carry more vaccines in the aircraft hold“, He wrote in a topic on the social network.” In total there will be 48 hours of operation with a stopover in Madrid, plus loading time at Beijing International Airport (PEK). In the following post, he added that the flight is expected to arrive at Ezeiza International Airport on Thursday at 9:50 pm.
When the first shipments of the Sputnik V arrived from Russia, it was said that the maximum capacity of the aircraft owned by Aerolineas Argentinas was 600 thousand doses. For this reason, repairs began on one of the Airbus aircraft of the company’s fleet. Target? Free up the cabin, as passengers travel on a regular flight, and remove most seats. This modification would allow them to load an additional 400,000 doses and thus reach a million on the same flight.
Repairs, which started about 15 days ago, should be ready by the last days of February. Made About the Airbus plane that, at the beginning of the epidemic, traveled to China to search for medical supplies, masks and suits to protect medical personnel. He made 35 trips to Shanghai and 7 to Guangzhou. Adjustments are made on the same plane. This is why the intention to reach one million doses will likely be thwarted and the shipment will be reduced to 900,000 doses, Infobae has learned.
So far 1,220,000 doses of Sputnik V have reached the country. But Russia promised to send 20 million between December and February, and that promise was not kept. On Wednesday the 17th, another 580 thousand doses From India and Astrazeneca Industry. The total, then, arrives 1,780,000 doses.
Since the start of the vaccination process, Argentina brought no more than 580,000 doses in one trip. There were 300,000 in December, a container of 300,000 and another 420,000 in January, and 400,000 in February. All rus. Then 580 thousand Astrazeneca were added.
Read on:
After the scandal, the government will set up a committee to monitor the vaccination of “strategic personnel”.
The president defended the vaccination of those responsible and cited against justice: “Stop the instincts.”
A Posadas doctor described the vaccination of VIPs: “One day, trucks full of youth arrived.”
