Latin America received on Wednesday its first shipment of formally approved COVID-19 vaccines, as Mexico’s foreign secretary described the arrival as “the beginning of the end of this pandemic.”
The vaccine was introduced by a DHL flight to Mexico City International Airport. Crews began unloading batches of the same Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that had begun being administered to Americans last week, The Associated Press reported.
Officials did not disclose how many batches were part of the relatively small shipment, which is expected to be used to test vaccine logistics procedures once Mexico and other Latin American countries begin receiving larger quantities.
Health workers in Mexico City and northern Saltillo city will begin receiving vaccines on Thursday.
Mexico expects to receive 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the end of January.
Argentina on Wednesday announced the approval of two additional vaccines for imminent use, one from Russia and one that has no distribution agreement.
The Russian Sputnik V vaccine was approved as an emergency and is expected to arrive in Argentina in a batch of 300,000 doses, although the vaccine is considered “a safe and effective therapeutic tool.”
The Sputnik V vaccine has faced some criticism in Russia for its hasty approval procedure.
Argentina’s health workers have also approved the Pfizer vaccine, although the government has not yet drawn up an agreement to start obtaining batches.
In addition, other Latin American countries are expected to receive shipments of the Pfizer vaccine this week, as Brazil has begun receiving shipments from other producers.