(Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2021) Adds more details about Sputnik V production in paras 5-9)
MOSCOW, June 2 (Sputnik) - Argentine presidential advisor Cecilia Nicolini said that the country has signed an annex to its existing contract with Russia which will allow it to purchase more doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.
"An annex [to the contract] was drawn [to receive new doses]," she told Sputnik.
The original contract was signed in December last year.
Argentina became the first country in Latin America to register and widely use Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. Russian President Vladimir Putin once mentioned that "rhythmic deliveries" have been established to Argentina.
Meanwhile, the Argentine health minister, Carla Vizzotti, stated that Russia's Gamaleya research institute confirmed the quality of the first batches of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V that were produced by Argentine private laboratory Richmond.
"Yesterday we were told that the quality test turned out to be successful, now we can confidently advance further in terms of imports of the first and second components so that Argentina becomes a part of Sputnik V production chain", the minister said.
The Gamaleya institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have yet to provide their comments.
In April, the RDIF reported that it, together with partners, implemented technology transfer to the Richmond laboratory. The first part of the batch was delivered to the Gamaleya institute to control the quality of the vaccine.
Argentina is planning to produce 4-5 million doses of the Russian vaccine per month and expects to increase the production to up to 500 million doses per year in the future.
