BUENOS AIRES: Argentina on Sunday received its biggest consignment so far of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, as it races to inoculate a good proportion of the population before the onset of the southern hemisphere winter.

The Russian Gamaleya Institute has agreed with Argentina to deliver 20 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine by the end of March. A batch of 517,500 arrived on Sunday, taking the total to 1.7 million. Another batch of an unspecified size is due to arrive in Buenos Aires on Monday.

It was announced earlier this week that Argentine company Laboratorios Richmond had struck a deal to help produce Sputnik locally to assure a longer-term supply of the vaccine.

Argentina, which has a population of about 45 million people, has recorded 2,107 million COVID-19 cases, including 51,965 deaths.

The South American country has sourced several vaccines as it attempts to roll out an inoculation program before a potential new wave of cases over winter.

The Argentina health ministry's log showed that as of Sunday afternoon 1,041,173 doses had been issued, 743,406 people had received a first shot and 293,767 people had received two shots.

Argentina's coronavirus drugs cabinet also includes 1 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, which is being rolled out among the country's older population, and 580,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute.