Argentina undertakes timely COVID-19 vaccination campaign, says gov't

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina is rolling out its vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in a timely manner, Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia said on Tuesday.

"The vaccination campaign has been progressing in the proper time and manner. We have been fulfilling the program perfectly well," Gonzalez said in a statement.

The minister's remarks came after a visit to the Posadas Hospital on the outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires, where he supervised the application of the second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 among healthcare workers, who received the first dose 21 days ago.

The Health Ministry has been distributing the vaccines in keeping with "a federal and equitable policy so that it reaches everyone," Gonzalez said.

Argentina has secured "more than 51 million doses" of COVID-19 vaccines through contracts with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca; COVAX, a mechanism established by the World Health Organization to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide; and the Gamaleya Center in Moscow, according to the statement.

However, Gonzalez said the public must continue to keep up prevention measures "to keep the pandemic under control".

Argentina registered its first case of COVID-19 on March 3 and confirmed 1,807,428 cases of infection and 45,832 deaths as of Monday.