The Guatemalan government is demanding tens of millions in a refund from Russia over the country’s failure to deliver doses of its Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus.
Officials of the Central American country said they paid Russia more than $80 million for eight million doses of the Russian-manufactured vaccine, but have only received 150,000 doses in the last three months as COVID cases have increased, according to a report.
Guatemalan Health Minister Amelia Flores said the country has given the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets Sputnik V globally, three weeks to deliver the remaining doses.
A spokesman for RDIF told Reuters earlier this week that a new shipment would reach Guatemala soon.
“Another plane with Sputnik V is scheduled to arrive in Guatemala this week, with the next one coming already early next week to keep fulfilling obligations regarding the contract,” Gleb Bryanski, director for special projects at RDIF, said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Russia has delivered only a fraction of its 896 million promised Covid-19 vaccine doses to other countries, according to a report.