Bolivian President To Get Sputnik V Shot As Sign Of Confidence In Vaccination Campaign

LA PAZ (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th January, 2021) Bolivian President Luis Arce will be among the first people in the country to receive Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, developed by Russia's Gamaleya research institute, in a show of confidence in the national immunization campaign, presidential spokesman Jorge Richter said on Friday.

"The President will be vaccinated ... from the batch of 6,000 vaccines coming this month, to demonstrate confidence in the vaccination process that we are carrying out," Richter said in a statement published by the state-run ABI news agency, adding that the first vaccines "would be targeted primarily at the healthcare workers, who are the most vulnerable.

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Earlier in the day, Bolivian Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Integration Benjamin Blanco Ferri told Sputnik that the country is going to receive the first batch of 6,000 doses of the Russian vaccine from January 25-31.

On December 30, Bolivia's Health Supply Center said it had reached an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund on the deliveries of 5.5 million doses of Sputnik V to the Latin American nation.

Bolivia has so far confirmed over 181,000 COVID-19 cases, with more than 9,500 fatalities.