Argentina discards 400 vaccine doses, suspecting sabotage

Argentina began inoculating its population against the coronavirus one week ago — and the first problems have started to surface. Roughly 400 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine have been spoiled, with authorities believing they were sabotaged.

The doses were removed from the vaccine cold chain while being stored in a hospital in the city of Olavarría, 350 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires. Video surveillance systems were shut down at 2:50 am, leading health officials to believe the vaccines were intentionally tampered with. 

“We had a lot of expectations [with the arrival of the vaccine doses]. Now we face this, not knowing if it is an act of sabotage or a boycott, but we are taking the matter to the authorities,” said Ramiro Borzi, a health director in the region.

Since shots arrived from Russia’s Gamaleya Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Argentinians have been bombarded with anti-vax misinformation campaigns — including rumors that vaccines use aborted fetuses and false reports stating that a member of the Armed Forces died after being inoculated. According to AFP, however, the individual in question did not receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

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