The Government of Daniel Ortega paid more than 101.9 million dollars to its allies in Cuba and Russia for vaccines against covid-19 for Nicaragua, but not all the batches ordered for the 1.9 million have arrived. Sputnik V vaccinesfrom Russia, and the seven million Sovereign 02, Sovereign Plus vaccines Y abdullahcreated in Cuba.
Ortega and Murillo paid their political allies up to 50% more than the cost of AstraZeneca vaccinesdespite the fact that the Russian and Cuban vaccines are not authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to a monitoring CONFIDENTIALon the arrival of vaccines against covid-19 —based on official press releases—, between October and December 2021, 3,162,970 doses of vaccines from Cuba arrived in the country, which represents 45.1% of the doses that were promised to immunize the pediatric population.
Cuba’s batch of vaccines has not been completed
The announcement of these vaccines made by Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s wife, spokeswoman and vice president of the regime, specified that the batch of seven million would be completed in December, but there were no more reports of the arrival of the vaccines. In January 2022, it was learned through the Twitter account of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, creator of the Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus biologicals, that a new batch of vaccines had been sent, but they did not detail how much the number of doses amounted to. .
The Ortega government also did not publish a press release of thanks as it usually does with each arrival of vaccines. Since then there has been no indication that more biologicals have continued to be shipped.
The regime has treated all information related to the pandemic with suspicion, the purchase contracts it has made are unknown. However, in an official document of the national plan for coverage and acquisition of vaccines, presented by the Government to the World Bank (WB) —to access a millionaire loan—, it was revealed that each Cuban dose cost seven dollars, which indicates that the investment amounts to 49 million dollars.
Neither Ortega nor Murillo have said under what concept these vaccines arrived, whether it was a purchase or a donation, as they did clarify with the vaccines purchased from Russia. However, after presenting this document to the World Bank, it is inferred that they were paid, since the donated vaccines appeared without a price.
With the Cuban vaccines, the regime hoped to inoculate 2.1 million children and adolescents, between the ages of three and eighteen. It is unknown if this goal was achieved. Likewise, what will happen to minors who did not complete their three-dose schedule after the shipment of Cuban vaccines was suspended.
With the arrival of pediatric vaccines from Pfizer, donated by the United States last July, the Minsa expanded the vaccination options for minors and also detailed that these would be applied to children who were vaccinated with Soberana 02 and did not complete their schedule. It was also learned that the Minsa is vaccinating children from three to eleven years old with Sinopharm vaccines, which were donated by China.
Ortega had promised 1.9 million vaccines from Russia
In 2021, the Ortega regime bet on immunization against covid-19 with vaccines created in Russia. In May of that year, the son of the presidential couple, Laureano Ortega Murillo, received the first shipment of Sputnik V vaccines, and at the press conference he explained that they had bought 1.9 million of this biologicalwithout disclosing how much was paid.
However, during that year Nicaragua only received 726,000 doses of Sputnik V, which represents 38.2% of what was promised. The last batch of vaccines arrived on November 1, 2021 and no further biologists have been received from Russia since then.
It is known through the document shared with the World Bank that each dose of Sputnik V cost 9.95 dollars and for 546,000 doses reported to this multilateral institution, the country paid 5.4 million dollars. Worldwide, several countries that concluded purchase contracts with Russia had delays in the delivery of this type of vaccine.
Nicaragua also received Sputnik Light vaccines, which are the first component of Sputnik V because, unlike other biologicals, it uses two different formulas as the first and second dose. In total, 3,680,000 were received in October 2021. Each vaccine cost $12.90, nearly three times what AstraZeneca paid for doses purchased in December of that year.
In September 2022, Nicaragua celebrated a year and a half since the national vaccination program against covid-19 began. During this period the country accumulated 18.2 million vaccines of ten types, of these 11.7 million have already been applied, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). With these doses, 85% of the population would have been vaccinated with the complete schedule; while 90% already have at least one dose.
Now bet on Chinese vaccines against covid-19
During the first year of vaccination, the regime bet on the Russian and Cuban vaccines by limiting purchases of other types of biologicals that were approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and cost less. Now the plan seems to bet on the chinese vaccinesdonated by his new political ally.
This week, Murillo reported that a batch of two million Sinopharm vaccines will arrive in the country in the coming days. With this batch, China would accumulate three million vaccines against covid-19 donated to Nicaragua.
Chinese vaccines are being administered in the adult population and in children under three to eleven years of age. The first donations arrived in the country in December 2021, when Ortega cut relations with Taiwan to ally with China.
