Peru is in very advanced stages of negotiation with laboratories from China, Russia, the United States, and Europe in order to procure 26.8 million doses of COVID-10 vaccines, which increases the possibility of vaccination in the next three months, the
Ministry of Health (Minsa) has reported.
In the case of the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance,
the negotiation to acquire 9.9 million doses is almost over, and the first shipment is expected to arrive this month, although it may be delayed while the final negotiation —conducted by the multisectoral group led by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and involving the participation of Minsa— is being completed.
Meanwhile, Peru has completed a negotiation with the COVAX Facility coalition led by the
World Health Organization (WHO), for the supply of 13.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, this last vaccine is projected to arrive in the second half of 2021, although the delivery may be brought forward, according to Minsa.
Other deals underway
Other agreements are underway to acquire 26.8 million doses from laboratories like Gamaleya from Russia (Sputnik vaccine), Sinopharm from China, Oxford-AstraZeneca from the United Kingdom, as well as U.S. pharmaceutical companies Janssen of Johnson & Johnson, COVAXX, and Arcturus.
Taking into account all this information, Suarez ruled out the claim that the vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Peru will begin in 2022, made by some international media outlets that received biased information (they only considered negotiations with some labs).
In addition, Suarez commented that, for legal reasons, Peru cannot make a commitment to acquire more vaccines than it requires (unlike other countries). So, the number of doses negotiated by the nation is more in line with the size of the population.
"I am convinced that the vaccination against COVID-19 in Peru will start in the first quarter of 2021," Suarez added.
(END) NDP/RES/RMB
Published: 12/14/2020