Mexico City – On January 4, 2021 the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) authorized the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca for use in Mexico.
The Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, Hugo López Gatell, released the news that the vaccine will be for emergency use via his social networks.
The doctor in Epidemiology explained that Mexico acquired 77.4 million doses, which could begin to be administered in the country as of March.
For his part, Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Foreign Relations, assured that with this approval the production of this vaccine will begin in the country.
“Very good news, the emergency approval of the AztraZeneca vaccine by COFEPRIS! With this, production in Mexico will begin very soon,” he wrote on his official Twitter account.
Cofepris, in this way, has now approved two vaccines to combat the coronavirus in Mexico: the one made by Pfizer and the one produced by AstraZeneca, which was carried out in conjunction with the University of Oxford. Various studies showed that the second has an effectiveness against the pathogen of 70 percent.
Another of the Latin American nations that has authorized the use of the British pharmaceutical vaccine was Argentina.
Several countries are expected to depend on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to its low cost, availability, and ease of use. It can be kept in refrigerators instead of freezers that other vaccines usually require.
Pascal Soriot, head of the company, recently commented that researchers believe that this vaccine will be effective against the new variant of the virus that is behind a sharp increase in infections in Britain.
On Monday, deaths from COVID-19 in Mexico amounted to 127,757; while confirmed cases reached 1,455,219, reported the Ministry of Health. Additionally, there were 63,946 estimated active cases, that is, those that presented symptoms in the last 14 days.
The Mexican government’s five-stage strategy foresees having 700,000 health workers vaccinated by the end of January and the free and gradual immunization of the rest of the population, of 130 million inhabitants, beginning in February, depending on the recipient’s age and chronic diseases.
Source: NTR Guadalajara, Courtesy EFE