Christian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The Mexican government announced this morning the vaccination plan to be carried out in the country to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement was made by the country's deputy health minister, Hugo López-Gatell.
The vaccine will be universally accessible and free; that is, it covers the entire population in the country.
It will start in Mexico City and in the state of Coahuila, Mexico with the health professionals who are treating patients with COVID-19.
The vaccination campaign is expected to start in the third week of December with vaccines from CanSino Biologics, of Chinese origin with an effectiveness of 97%; the American vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech, with a reported effectiveness of 95%; and, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, of European origin with 90% of effectiveness against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that the funds for the vaccination plan are ready, specifically 20 billion pesos, for the purchase of 34 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine; 77 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 35 million doses of the CanSino vaccine.
Lopez-Gatell said the goal is to reach 75% of the population over 16 years old and announced that there will be 7 stages in which the vaccination plan was divided that includes its distribution by age groups:
- Health workers. In December 2020 and February 2021.
- People 80 years and older. Before February 2021.
- People between 70 and 79 years old. Before February 2021.
- People between 60 and 69 years old. In February and April 2021.
- People between 50 and 59 years old. In April and May 2021.
- People between 40 and 49 years old. In May and June 2021.
- Population under 40 years of age. From June 2021 and before March 2022
Mexico's Foreign Minister, Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón, said that early access to vaccines was also due to early integration into COVAX, which, according to the World Health Organization -WHO-, aims to "accelerate the development and manufacture of vaccines against COVID-19 and ensure fair and equitable access to them for all countries of the world". In addition, he highlighted the importance of integrating Mexico into the Gavi Vaccine Alliance -Gavi-, the Coalition for the Promotion of Innovations for Epidemic Preparedness -CEPI-.
The minister confirmed that out of 9 potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates, approximately 50 million doses have already been set aside, including vaccines developed by Inovio, Moderna, CureVac, Merk-Themis, Oxford-AstraZeneca, the University of Hong Kong, Novavax, Clover-BioPharma, and the University of Queensland-CLS.
In addition, he noted that the Mexican Ministry of Health will be able to decide on a total of 18 vaccines as long as phase three trials are completed and approved.
