Guatemala asks Russia to return money over failure to deliver Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine

FILE PHOTO: A box with Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is seen at a vaccination centre in Depo food mall in Moscow, Russia June 17, 2021. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/File Photo

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan Health Minister Amelia Flores said on Tuesday that the government had asked Russia to return money already paid for doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine because of non-delivery.

The government of President Alejandro Giammattei paid some $80 million in early April for a supply of 8 million doses of the vaccine. So far, it has received just 150,000 of those, the government said, while COVID-19 infections in the Central American country have risen to a peak.