Argentinian Alberto Fernandez is one of the first presidents to receive the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Russian laboratory Gamaleïa.

The Head of State received, Thursday, January 21, a first dose.

"I thank the Gamaleïa Institute for its scientific work, those who made it possible for it to reach us and all the health personnel in our country for its immense commitment," the Argentine president said on Twitter.

61-year-old Alberto Fernandez was vaccinated in the morning at Posadas Hospital in Buenos Aires.

He urged Argentines to imitate him.

"It helps to immunize against the coronavirus. Let's do it," he insisted.

On Wednesday, the National Medicines Agency authorized the use of the vaccine for those over 60 years old.

Sputnik V was licensed in the country on December 23, a first in Latin America, and the vaccination campaign began five days later for volunteer health workers aged 18 to 60.

The injection of the second dose for these personnel began on Tuesday.

Agreement reached for AstraZeneca vaccine

Argentina has also reached an agreement to purchase the Anglo-Swedish vaccine Oxford / AstraZeneca and participates in the Covax device of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Negotiations are still ongoing for the purchase of the German-American vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech.

>> To see, our Focus: "Covid-19 in Argentina: facing the crisis, homeless families are occupying land"

The South American country of 44 million people has recorded more than 1.8 million cases of Covid-19, including 46,000 fatalities.

Called "Sputnik V" in homage to the first satellite launched by the USSR in 1957, the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus had been greeted with skepticism internationally in the face of an announcement deemed premature, in August, even before the start of clinical trials mass (phase 3) and publication of scientific results.

According to the Russian sovereign wealth fund which participated in the development of the product, the Sputnik V has been authorized in Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, the Palestinian territories, Venezuela, Paraguay and Turkmenistan.

It has since been administered to more than 1.5 million people, according to Russia, which has made it an instrument of geopolitical influence.

With AFP

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