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12.08am GMT
11.51pm GMT
Argentina will postpone the application of the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines for three months as a way of dealing with a vaccine scarcity in the country.
The decision aims to vaccinate the largest amount of people as possible to maximize the benefits of vaccination and to reduce the impact of hospitalizations and mortality," said health minister Carla Vizzoti announcing the measure on Friday.
The decision applies to all the different vaccines available in Argentina: Sputnik, Covishield, ChadOx and Sinopharm. A second dose will not be applied for an interval of at least 12 weeks after the first dose."
The scarcity has been brought on partly by Argentina's rejection last year of a Pfizer condition for legal immunity for their vaccine regarding possible lawsuits, which led to the cancellation of millions of Pfizer doses being negotiated by Argentina.
The country Friday recorded its highest daily jump in new Covid cases in months, 12,900 cases, bringing total accumulated cases to 2.3 million people (5% of total population) and 55,235 deaths.
Argentina Thursday also announced the cancellation of incoming flights from Brazil, Chile and Mexico in an effort to block the arrival of Covid variants in this country, where cases of the P1 Brazilian and B117 British variants have already been detected.