The Dominican government has agreed with AstraZeneca pharmaceutical for the company to supply medicines instead of the contracted Covid-19 vaccines. The DR ordered thousands of vaccines, but AstraZeneca did not deliver on time. When the vaccines were delivered, the DR already had sourced these from China.
Under the original contract, the Dominican Republic received a total of 879,600 doses of the vaccine, which were used as part of the National Vaccination Plan against COVID-19.
However, following the evolution of the pandemic and based on the supply flow of the vaccine, the parties agreed that it was no longer convenient to receive all of the 10 million doses originally contracted, which called for disbursing US$40 million.
Consequently, through a first letter of understanding in July 2021, the parties agreed to reduce the total contracted amount to 5,811,138 doses.
With today’s signing, it has been agreed to reduce the amount to the 879,600 doses actually delivered. Since the government had already paid the sum of US$24 million, it is now also being agreed that AstraZeneca will compensate the difference through the supply of a number of drugs currently needed by the public health system.
It is recalled that of the total money paid, US$8 million was donated by the private sector. The drugs, which will be received between the last quarter of 2022 and the first half of 2023, will be used to treat diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that have a high economic impact on both the population and the Dominican public healthcare system.
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El Caribe
17 October 2022