Russia delivered the first batch of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to Bolivia on Thursday along with a larger shipment for neighboring Argentina, Reuters has reported.
A plane carrying 240,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in Argentina, of which 20,000 doses went on to Bolivia. Bolivia will be the second Latin American country to roll out the Russian vaccine.
Argentina had already taken delivery of two consignments, each with 300,000 shots, although it has received far less of the Russian vaccine than it had originally hoped.
The Argentine deliveries fall short of the 5 million doses health authorities had said they expected to receive in January from Russia.
From Buenos Aires, Bolivia’s BOA national airline picked up its share of the shipment to fly to La Paz.
There have been 1.9 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and about 47,500 deaths in Argentina.
Bolivia has had over 200,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 10,000 deaths.
KI/PR