Mexico City, Jan. 29, (dpa/GNA) – Bolivia on Thursday said it received its first 20,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
Bolivian President Luis Arce welcomed the cargo as it landed at El Alto airport, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
The vaccine’s active ingredient was the first in the world to be released for widespread use, in mid-August, although the fact that key testing had not been completed triggered international criticism.
No independent studies of the vaccine have been carried out.
A mass inoculation campaign, launched in early December, is under way in Russia, in parallel with widespread Phase III testing, with the country also selling its vaccine abroad including to Argentina Venezuela and Hungary among others.
The Bolivian government in December signed a deal with Russia for 5.2 million doses to inoculate its population on a voluntary basis and free of charge.
La Paz plans to immunize the entirety of the vaccinable population with 15 million doses. To reach the goal it also signed a deal for the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine and joined Covax, the UN-led initiative to share vaccines fairly between wealthier and poorer countries.
The country on Thursday announced 2,652 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total caseload to over 210,700, according to Health Ministry figures. More than 10,000 deaths have been reported in the country so far.
GNA