BUENOS AIRES, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Argentine Health Minister Carla Vizzotti on Tuesday praised the role of Chinese vaccines in combating COVID-19 in the South American country.

Vizzotti thanked representatives of China's CanSino Biologics pharmaceutical firm at a meeting held in Buenos Aires to assess the work carried out during the pandemic and address cooperation strategies for technology transfer, the Health Ministry said.

"Thank you very much for being here. For us it is very important to value all the work that has been done so far and thank you for CanSino's role in our country's response to the pandemic," said Vizzotti.

"The pandemic transformed crisis into an opportunity and this table is a sign that we are taking advantage of that opportunity," she added.

According to Vizzotti, "this meeting is also to think about many strategies beyond COVID-19," and the importance of working together with CanSino on technology transfer.

In June 2021, Argentina approved the emergency use of CanSino's Convidecia vaccine, due to the vaccine's compliance with the standards required by the regulatory authority of manufacturing plants, the development and manufacture of products, their certification in the country of origin and compliance with quality standards.

The vaccine is easy to store because it can be transported at a temperature of between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius, and requires just a single dose. It has been used in Argentina to immunize remote communities.

Argentina began its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in December 2020 and has received 119,379,405 doses of vaccines from different pharmaceutical companies, including Chinese companies CanSino and Sinopharm, both of which contributed significantly to the fight against the pandemic.

The South American country has registered 9,083,673 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 128,653 deaths from the disease since the viral outbreak, and has applied some 98,887,551 doses of vaccines so far.