Argentina approves South America's first COVID-19 vaccine

The National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine entirely developed in Argentina: the “ARVAC Cecilia Grierson.”

Developed by the National University of San Martín, the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), and the Cassará Lab, the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective as a booster against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in people over 18.

The ARVAC Cecilia Grierson — named after the first Argentine woman to receive a medical degree (1885) from the University of Buenos Aires — is already being produced in the Cassará manufacturing plant in Buenos Aires, and can be adapted to new variants of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the region.

According to a press release by the Health Ministry, the development of the vaccine was the result of a public-private consortium that involved more than 600 scientists and professionals, 25 institutions and over 2,000 volunteers.

“The virus is here to stay, and we will need periodic boosters like the common flu,” said Carla Vizzoti, the country’s Minister of Health.

“It is so important that we have this chance of having a safe, effective, and quality resource, and that we can substitute imports and export the vaccine.”

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/business/tech/argentina-approves-its-first-covid-19-vaccine

Argentine Health Minister Carla Vizzotti (fifth from right) and Science Minister Daniel Filmus (with gray beard, holding flag) join the heads of the country's ARVAC project to celebrate the approval of the country's - and the region's - first Covid-19 vaccine.

Argentina recorded over 130,000 Covid-19 deaths - the second-lowest rate per thousand people in Latin America and about half the regional average, according to the University of Oxford's Our World in Data.