Nicaragua has received barely half of the vaccines against covid-19 promised by the Governments of Cuba and Russia since 2021. monitoring of the independent Nicaraguan newspaper Confidential revealed that, although Daniel Ortega paid his allies the combined figure of 102 million dollars for 11.2 million doses, double what the British AstraZeneca vaccine would have cost him, not all of the planned batches have arrived in the country .
The absence belies the promise made by Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s partner and vice president, that by December 2021 the Cuban vaccines would have been received and used.
Russia was to provide the Central American country with 1.9 million doses of Sputnik V, while Cuba had negotiated the sale of 7 million from Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala. Although both nations have sold or donated these drugs, neither of them has authorization from the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, the Confidencial report, documented with official press releases, found that between October and December only 3,162,970 doses were received from the island, barely 45.1% of the amount that Ortega bought for immunize children and adolescents in Nicaragua.
As for Russia, of the almost 2 million injections expected, only 726 thousand were received, 38% of the stipulated amount.
As for Russia, of the almost 2 million injections expected, only 726 thousand were received, 38% of the stipulated amount
During 2021 and the first months of 2022, government information on drug purchases became more murky. The thank you notes that Daniel Ortega usually published also stopped appearing. According to Confidentialit is unknown, since the beginning of the year, if Cuba intends to fulfill its part of the agreement.
From the Island it is also not possible to calculate how much has been sent to Nicaragua and if the export of any other batch is expected. In January 2022, the Finlay Vaccine Institute He said he had sent a new shipment to Ortega, but without revealing how many doses.
According to Confidentialthe unit cost of each vaccine was seven dollars if the amount of a loan requested by the Ortega government from the World Bank for payment to Havana is taken as a reference.
For its part, the price of Sputnik V was almost ten dollars, and the total amount received by Russia amounted to 5.4 million, although Ortega knew that other buyers of the drug had filed complaints about Moscow’s delays in deliver the orders.
The vaccine deficit and the impact it has caused on the child population, who were unable to complete their immunization schedules, have forced Ortega to accept donations
The vaccine deficit and the impact it has caused on the child population, who were unable to complete their immunization schedules, have forced Ortega to accept donations. This happened last July, when the United States sent a batch of Pfizer. The report of Confidential It adds that children aged three to eleven are receiving the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.
In total, some ten types of vaccine have come to circulate in the Central American country, and it is estimated that 85% of the population has already completed the vaccination schedule.
For Ortega and his allies, including the Havana regime, the sale of vaccines during the covid-19 pandemic has had high geopolitical importance. For Cuba, the sale of its drugs reached regional governments such as Venezuela, Mexico and Argentina, but it also served to strengthen relations with Russia and Iran.
In addition, the sale or donation of Abdala, Mambisa and the different ranges of Soberana motivated an international campaign of medical propaganda, by the Government, which has tried to whitewash the face of the regime after the repression, in the midst of a pandemic, of the protesters of the 11J protests.
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