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Peru's Fin Min: Government pays US$26 million for first COVID-19 vaccine batch

Photo: ANDINA/Diffusion

14:16 | Lima, Jan. 12.

Economy and Finance Minister Waldo Mendoza on Tuesday reported that the Government is making a payment of S/94 million (about US$26 million) today for the first batch of vaccines from the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm, which would arrive in Peru this January.

"Today, we are enacting a supreme decree making official the first payment worth S/94 million for the first batch of vaccines (…). That is the concrete, evident, and objective step that this Government is taking so that those vaccines arrive as soon as possible," Mendoza expressed.

"We are doing whatever is necessary so that the vaccines arrive as soon as possible. Everything is on schedule, we had a deadline to pay, which ends tomorrow, but we will do it today; so, this is good news for the Peruvian population. The Government is fulfilling its commitments as it is already paying for this first batch of vaccines," he added.

During his presentation before Congress' Special Commission for Emergency Monitoring and COVID-19 Disaster Risk Management, the high-ranking official pointed out that the Government has allocated S/136 million (about US$37.62 million) for the implementation of 300 ICU beds.

Likewise, the minister said that the issue of ICU beds is a concern for the Government and lawmakers.

The Cabinet member went on to add it should also be of the population in general, considering that there are many people who are committing irresponsible acts and causing a strong outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I use this space to publicize that all health indicators in recent weeks are not looking good. We are seeing that ICU beds are being required at a greater speed and that hospitalization cases are increasing. Therefore, it is up to us to make the population aware of this problem also shared by the whole country, because we know that —historically speaking— our health system is fragile," Mendoza indicated.

"(...) despite all the progress we have made during this pandemic, a slight outbreak in a country like Peru could turn into a disgrace while we do not have enough ICU beds," he concluded.

?? Ahora | Ministro de Economía y Finanzas, Waldo Mendoza, participa en la Comisión Especial de Seguimiento a Emergencias y Gestión de Riesgo de Desastres COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/wImWEhfjZp
— Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (@MEF_Peru) January 12, 2021

(END) CNA/MVB

Published: 1/12/2021

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Peru's Fin Min: Government pays US$26 million for first COVID-19 vaccine batch

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