Argentina threatened to terminate the contract with RDIF for the purchase of “Sputnik V” due to delay in deliveries

Argentinean presidential adviser Cecilia Niccolini wrote a letter to Anatoly Braverman, First Deputy Director General of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), in which she said that the country was in a critical situation with vaccination against coronavirus due to the delay in deliveries of the second dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. About it informs La Nasion newspaper.

According to the newspaper, for the vaccination of elderly citizens, the Argentine authorities expected on July 10 or 11 the delivery of at least 1 million doses of the second component of Sputnik V, but the batch arrived only on July 13 in the amount of 550 thousand doses. According to Niccolini, the contract with RDIF is currently “on the brink of termination” due to the fact that Argentina did not receive 5.5 million doses of the first component of Sputnik V and 13.1 million doses of the second component in July.

In addition, she added that the Russian vaccine developers are delaying the conclusion on the drugs produced in the local Richmond laboratory, which has concluded an agreement with the RDIF for the production of Sputnik V.

For the first time, delays in the delivery of the second component of Sputnik V to Argentina became known in June this year. Due to the shortage of the vaccine, the period between the introduction of the first and second components in the country had to be increased to 12 weeks.

At the end of June, the government of Guatemala demanded from Russia to return the advance, which was paid for 16 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, due to delays in delivery. After that, new batches of the Russian vaccine were delivered to the country.