Uruguayan President seizes Pfizer vaccines Argentine neglected

camberiu

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Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou successfully carried out a personal negotiation with the Pfizer laboratory in Buenos Aires in December as talks between the Argentine government and the manufacturers of the vaccine began to stall, it was reported.

According to press reports, the laboratory's offer was of 13.3 million doses, but for months, the Argentine authorities remained silent. Until it was too late. Lacalle Pou had negotiated personally with the laboratories.

Health Minister at the time in Argentina was Ginés González García, who first postponed any dealings with Pfizer because they were too keen on the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, but when this product began recording setback after setback and González García tried to resume dealings with Pfizer it was too late. Moscow's offer of the Sputnik V became the next best option.

Buenos Aires claims Pfizer was to blame for their foul play. When the Argentine Congress passed the bill which included the possibility of suing the laboratories, Pfizer remained silent until President Alberto Fernández had signed it into law.

Meanwhile, by December 24, Uruguay had signed a confidentiality agreement for the purchase of 2 million doses with one additional million negotiable.

The team led by González García also admitted that the initial tentative figure was 13.3 million, which was reduced to 3 million due to a “bottleneck” in output on Pfizer's side. “For months, AstraZeneca's vaccine seemed more advantageous than Pfizer's. It required fewer refrigeration logistics, a single dose instead of two doses, and it was much cheaper, in addition to offering to develop it in Argentina“, according to press reports quoting unnamed health ministry sources.

”When Lacalle Pou picked up the phone, he stated that the situation in his country was getting complicated and he needed all the help possible,“ explained another source familiar with the negotiations. ”In this context, Pfizer Argentina called the headquarters in the United States saying it was untenable for the entire Southern Cone to run out of vaccines, so they were given the green light. “In less than 24 hours, Lacalle Pou hired a law firm in New York and moved towards signing the letter of intent,” according to the same source.

The González García team also objected to that version. “Pfizer had almost nothing to show in the Southern Cone. And they saw that they could look good -and incidentally put pressure on the Argentine government- by throwing some ‘coins’ at Uruguay,” they graphed. In the weeks that followed, however, another president followed in the footsteps of his Uruguayan counterpart. It was Jair Bolsonaro, who called Pfizer for assistance. He invited to leave behind the previous differences and required 100 million doses.

Speeches aside, Uruguay, which started its acquisition plan with a notable delay, has already managed, in percentage terms, to almost triple Argentina's vaccination rate: 29% versus 11%, according to the Our World in Data site. Thus, the back and forth between the Argentine government and Pfizer would show a remarkable parallel -although more extended in time- than that between the Casa Rosada and another laboratory, Moderna, as revealed by La Nación, two weeks ago.

Also in late 2020, another option was opened for the Casa Rosada. Due to their common Armenian origins, businessman Eduardo Eurnekian knew the president of the Moderna laboratory, Noubar Afeyan. He contacted him and asked for his help. Afeyan agreed to dialogue at the highest level. And Eurnekian relayed the message to two presidents: Fernández and Lacalle Pou. In less than 12 hours, Lacalle Pou had called Afeyan, while Argentina ruminated yet again on the possibility and by the time they called, the earliest delivery date from Moderna was “October.”
 
One they vaccinate their own population, they should setup a vaccination operation at several border locations and offer vaccines to argentines who are willing to travel and pay. Uruguay could probably cover the cost of their own vaccines out of the proceeds of such operation vaccinating foreigners. If they do it right, argentines wouldn't even have to enter Uruguay.
 
Why would any of us be surprised as now Iam in the in the country with the highest infection rate in world basically URU. Oh I have been vaccinated with sinovac I am good to go! No you are not first dose of sinovac has only a 3% effectiveness rating. No wonder we are screaming with new cases.
 
Smart. Pfizer's is probably the best vaccine. I've had the first two, awaiting the third. Argentina should have bought as much Pfizer as possible when available. Sputnik not bad though. China's vaccine? Please!! Lol
 
Why would any of us be surprised as now Iam in the in the country with the highest infection rate in world basically URU. Oh I have been vaccinated with sinovac I am good to go! No you are not first dose of sinovac has only a 3% effectiveness rating. No wonder we are screaming with new cases.
I didn't realize things had got out of hand so quickly on the the other side of the river. Do be careful, the data for SinoVac are pretty bad, even in the latest Chilean study, which absolutely had to deliver good results, you still have a 20% chance of dying weeks after the 2nd dose. I've seen a 3rd dose proposed in Chile, but meh, I think we know enough already.

@Greg: BioNTech / Pfizer (I hesitate to refer to it as Pfizer, since Pfizer is basically a bottling / logistic plant for the German-invented vaccine) seems to be very good. But it's a 2-dose vaccine, what's the 3rd dose for?
 
^ Took Sinovac first then got first dose of Pfizer?

Pou saw a perfect opportunity to consolidate his position at the expense of both Argentina's reputation (already not great in Uruguay, as we all know) and the leftist elements in his own country that he can tie to Kirshnerism-style governance, suggesting they'd have made the same dumb moves based on their ideology and "anti-corporate" thinking. Smart - expensive, but very smart.

With A-Z, Sinovac, and now J&J being called into question in the media, and Moderna having side more significant side effects, Pou has - somewhat by luck - secured for the people of his country the premier, most in-demand covid-19 vaccine on earth. It's a genius political move for a lot of reasons, but noteworthy among them is that getting the best while the Argentines and Chileans are stuck with Sinovac and Sputnik is just one more reason for Uruguay to feel superior to the Argentines, the cultivation of and delivery on which is the holiest of political victories in that country.
 
I didn't realize things had got out of hand so quickly on the the other side of the river. Do be careful, the data for SinoVac are pretty bad, even in the latest Chilean study, which absolutely had to deliver good results, you still have a 20% chance of dying weeks after the 2nd dose. I've seen a 3rd dose proposed in Chile, but meh, I think we know enough already.

@Greg: BioNTech / Pfizer (I hesitate to refer to it as Pfizer,But it's a 2-dose vaccine, what's the 3rd dose for?

after 12 months after 2nd dose
 
... It's a genius political move for a lot of reasons, but noteworthy among them is that getting the best while the Argentines and Chileans are stuck with Sinovac and Sputnik is just one more reason for Uruguay to feel superior to the Argentines, the cultivation of and delivery on which is the holiest of political victories in that country.

Let's see. Argentina has 15 times bigger population than Uruguay. Yesterday [1] 63 people died of coronavirus in Uruguay and 248 in Argentina. 63 * 15 = 945. So, the death rate in Uruguay is like 4 times higher than in Argentina.

And yeah, Pensador got vaccinated by Sinovac in Uruguay.

Why again Uruguay feels superior?
 

I thought this would take a lot longer. I didn't get the production model though, it's the inverse of the Oxford / Astra Zeneca production here where the vaccine is produced in Argentina and would have been "bottled" in Mexico (had the Mexicans had their shit together), but still the Sputnik vaccines were produced in Argentina and sent to Russia for QC? Anyone understand?
 
I didn't realize things had got out of hand so quickly on the the other side of the river. Do be careful, the data for SinoVac are pretty bad, even in the latest Chilean study, which absolutely had to deliver good results, you still have a 20% chance of dying weeks after the 2nd dose. I've seen a 3rd dose proposed in Chile, but meh, I think we know enough already.

Please define the word "you" (specifically, an age group if posssible) and provide any data you can to support the claim that "you still have a 20% chance of dying weeks after the 2nd dose."

Looking at the CFR in this link, I cannot find any statics that indicate the death rate for covid was ever 20%, even in Italy where the fatality rate was the greatest: https://ourworldindata.org/mortality-risk-covid.

The highest CFR I can remember was over 80%, but that was for elderly patients who were hospitalized and put on ventilators, long before any of the "vacccines" became availble.
 
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