Bolivia Gets Its First 20,000 Sputnik V Vaccines

Bolivia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that the first 20,000 Sputnik V vaccines will arrive in La Paz on Thursday.

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On Wednesday, the shipment left Russia heading to Buenos Aires city aboard an Argentine Airbus 330-200. Today, the 20,000 doses will be transshipped to a Bolivian aircraft that will transfer them to La Paz.

"Bolivia will be the second Latin American country to use the Russian vaccine, after Argentina," the  Foreign Affairs Ministry stated, adding that the first to be immunized will be the 300,000 health workers.

The Sputnik V doses are the first of the 5.2 million vaccines agreed between Bolivia and Russia.

"The vaccine will arrive in the country after weeks of dialogue between both governments. Bolivia was prioritized among the over 50 countries that have requested the vaccine," authorities explained.

Bolivia's President Luis Arce announced that the country also purchased the U.K. Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is expected to arrive next week. The doses of both vaccines will make it possible to immunize the entire population at high risk of infection.

Eighty percent of 11 million Bolivian inhabitants have underlying diseases that increase their risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms.