Argentina starts coronavirus vaccine with Russia's Sputnik V

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Argentina has officially launched COVID-19 vaccinations with Russia's Sputnik V shots on Tuesday, the local government reported. The news has come a few days after the Russia health ministry approved the vaccine for people over the age of 60.

A few days after the announcement, Russia started transporting its first big international shipment, which was almost 300,000 doses to Argentina. however, the shipment consisted only of the first dose of the two-shot vaccine, which is easier to make than the second dose.

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"We are going to have to keep taking care of ourselves. It will take a few months for the vaccine to have a widespread effect," said  Health Minister Gines Gonzalez Garcia.

This news has attracted criticism from the locals in Russia who feel more doses should have been first available or the Russians rather than being shipped off to Argentina this week.

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While Argentina has received and started rolling out 300,000 doses, some regions of Rusia are reporting to have received only 2,000 doses or less than that till now.

This is Argentina's second coronavirus vaccine, which has been brought into action a few days after the elderly people of the country were administered the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.

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The vaccination drive began simultaneously around the country with frontline healthcare workers given priority. Argentina has also become the first country in Ámericas'to use Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

The Sputnik V vaccine was being hailed as the first COVID-19 vaccine but has since failed to gain the momentum similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was first approved by the Uk and other countries followed the footsteps.