Left-wing groups protest AstraZeneca vaccine delay in Argentina

A group of between 50 and 100 left-wing activists gathered in Buenos Aires this week to protest the delay of vaccines produced by Argentinian lab mAbxience, responsible for producing 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

According to left-wing lawmakers, the group asks for vaccine production to be placed under state control, in order to “have massive national production with all public and private laboratories.”

Shouting “vaccines for all,” the demonstrations organized by the Workers’ Left Front-Unity alliance also addressed a recent vaccine line-cutting scandal, which forced the resignation of then-Health Minister Ginés González García. 

Slow vaccine rollout and potential third wave

Argentina was one of the first Latin American countries to kick off its vaccination program, on December 29. But the country has only managed to immunize 1.5 percent of its population in three months. 

Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases keep increasing, with more than 10,000 new infections per day in late March. On Monday, the government decided to close all of its land borders to those who left the country between April and December 2020.

Flights from Brazil, Chile, and Mexico are also suspended. 

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