Santo Domingo, RD.
According to the contract with the British pharmaceutical company, the Dominican Republic should have received its first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca today.
Today, March 21, the pharmaceutical company had to deliver 400,000 doses of its vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, according to the contract with the Dominican state.
The basic idea of the contract with the pharmaceutical company was to guarantee a continuous supply of the vaccine per month, bringing in 2.7 million doses of the vaccine in the first half of the year.
The Dominican Republic signed a contract with AstraZeneca to obtain 10 million doses of its vaccine at a cost of $ 40 million, the cheapest of the vaccine deals signed by the country.
The agreement was signed at the National Palace on October 30, following a negotiation process led by the vice president of the republic, Raquel Peña, in order to grant special power by Luis Abinader, the nation’s president.
The pharmaceutical company has had problems worldwide in fulfilling its agreements to supply doses of the vaccine, even leading to the bankruptcy of its relations with the European Union, which has not received the number of doses agreed in agreements similar to are with those of the Dominican Republic.
On March 13, the Anglo-Swedish laboratory warned of further delays in the delivery of its coronavirus vaccine to the European Union (EU), according to a report from the AFP news agency.
The reasons for the pharmaceutical company were “production problems and export restrictions.”
The group had decided to turn to its manufacturing centers outside the European Union for delivery to the bloc, but “unfortunately, export restrictions will reduce deliveries in the first quarter” and “likely” in the second, a pharmaceutical industry spokesman said.
AstraZeneca began distributing its vaccines to the EU in February and the target was to deliver 100 million doses in the first half of 2021 (30 million in the first quarter, 70 in the second), according to a news channel from the above agency. .
The vaccine delivery schedule to which AstraZeneca has committed indicates that today, March 21, 400,000 doses of the vaccine should have been received. The second dose will be released just a month later, on April 21, but this time for 800,000 doses.
On May 21, the Dominican state should receive another shipment for 800,000 doses and another 700,000 vaccinations the following June 21.
The delivery schedule of the vaccine will follow on July 21, with the appointment for an even larger quantity to arrive: 1.9 million doses; and in mid-August the highest figure of the entire contract: 3.9 million vaccinations
Delivery of the 10 million doses, at least as contracted, would result in 1.4 million doses by September 2021.
The country has so far received 20,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine, which is manufactured in India using the same AstraZeneca formula. That was on February 15th. Four days later, on the 19th, a shipment containing 30,000 additional doses of the same vaccine arrived in the country, but these were donated by the Indian government.
With these doses, the country started its national vaccination plan, called “VacúnateRD”. 768,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine came from China, bought by the Dominican state for $ 20 for each dose. That was Tuesday, February 23.
On Wednesday, March 17, another shipment of 1 million vaccines arrived from Sinovac itself, from China. The Asian giant donated 50,000 doses of its Sinopharm vaccine and 51,200 syringes.
A contract was signed with the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to purchase 7,999,875 doses of its vaccine to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The purchase of the vaccines totaled US $ 95,998,500.
The specification signed by the Dominican state indicates that Pfizer shipments will be in batches every three months, starting from the second quarter of this year (April to June), according to the preliminary delivery schedule.
But it also notes that it will not be responsible for the doses that are not delivered in accordance with the estimated delivery dates set out in the agreement and that the Department of Health has no right to cancel orders for any quantity of vaccines.
Like the AstraZeneca doses, the government has announced on several occasions, the latest on March 17, with the arrival of 1 million 500 thousand doses from China, that there is no date for the arrival of Pfizer’s vaccines.
AstraZeneca contract details
The agreement with the pharmaceutical company states that a 30-day notice must be given when the vaccines will be available, as well as the exact amount that would be delivered.
These would be exported from the distribution center in Mexico, and once imported, the vaccines will become the responsibility of the Dominican government, which will also have to take responsibility for their useful life, without the possibility of return. in case they exceed the expiration date.
Each dose costs about $ 4 (about 232 Dominican pesos), although that price could go up 20 percent. If this happens, it is the state that will bear the additional costs. In any case, the agreement states that the price per dose will in no case exceed $ 6 (RD $ 349).
The contract also includes the structure of the total payment for the vaccines, which is $ 40 million (over 2,300 million pesos), in which three different payments will be made when specific situations are met.
The former equals 20 percent of the agreed-upon total, or $ 8 million (approximately RD $ 464,612,690). Then an equivalent of 40 percent (RD $ 929,225,381) will be made, when the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved by one of these health authorities: the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Regulatory Agency of British Medicines and Health Products ( MHRA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or by the Dominican health authorities.
