Sharjah24 – AFP: Guatemala will renegotiate and suspend payment of Sputnik V vaccines if Russia fails to deliver the vaccine doses on time. In early April, Guatemala paid $79.6M for 16 million doses, yet only 150,000 doses have been delivered so far.

Pedro Brolo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala said, "As long as the continuity and distribution of vaccines are not guaranteed, the next payment will not be made, because it would not make any sense."

He added, "If they cannot guarantee shipment, dates, quantities and the much-needed schedule, they will be willing and open to renegotiation on behalf of the Ministry of Public Health and the Russian Direct Investment Fund."

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala continued, "Mr. (Vladimir) Primark indicated that the Russian Direct Investment Fund places Guatemala on the list of priorities and that when they increase vaccine production they will be delivering larger quantities."

Concluding his statement, he pointed out, "They stated that they were having some problems in large-scale production, so they expect to normalize production by August."