The first formally approved batch of COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Latin America was held on Wednesday with VIP-appropriate ceremonies: flags, television cameras and dignitaries lined up along the runway.
A DHL flight landed at Mexico City International Airport and the ground crew unloaded the first batches of cold vaccines produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
“Today is the beginning of the end of this pandemic,” said Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, one of the officials who came to see how the plane landed.
Mexico expects to receive 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech product by the end of January.
Mexico’s first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arriving at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico [Edgard Garrido/Reuters]
The first vaccinations should be given to health workers in Mexico City and northern Saltillo City starting Thursday.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would push for the vaccine to be used in other areas as officials try to reach workers at nearly 1,000 hospitals treating coronavirus patients across the country.
The elderly and people with chronic illnesses should be the next to receive vaccines.
Mexico has recorded a total of 1.3 million COVID-19 infections and 119,495 disease-related deaths, the fourth highest number of deaths in the world.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, on the right, and the Minister of Health, Jorge Carlos Alcocer, on the left, with documents after the arrival of the first doses of the vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech COVID- 19 in Mexico [Edgard Garrido/Reuters]
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive in some other Latin American nations this week, and vaccine candidates from other producers have already arrived in Brazil and some other nations awaiting formal approval from their health authorities.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health expects to have at least 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines available during the first half of 2021, with a third or more of a Chinese company.
Arnaldo Medeiros, a health ministry official, told a hearing in Congress on Tuesday that an initial agreement to acquire 46 million doses of vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech could soon be expanded to 100 million doses.
The Butantan Institute of the Sao Paulo state government is expected to present data from its final phase trial of the Sinovac vaccine, called CoronaVac, which has already begun launching its complete production line, on Tuesday.
President Jair Bolsonaro had removed the vaccine, citing doubts about its “origin” and marketing barbs to Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, a political rival. But the Ministry of Health has been keen to secure its supply as the global rush for vaccines heats up.
The federal government’s Fiocruz biomedical center is also expected to begin filling and finishing the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming months, with the first injections on February 8th.
Separately, the ministry is in talks with Pfizer to receive eight million doses of the vaccine it developed with German BioNTech during the first half of 2021.
No COVID-19 vaccine has yet been approved for use in Brazil.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health expects to have at least 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines available during the first half of 2021, with a third or more of a Chinese company [Pilar Olivares/Reuters]
Also Wednesday, Argentina granted emergency approval to use Russian vaccine Sputnik COVID-19, the health ministry said in a statement, becoming the third country after Russia and Belarus to approve the vaccine. .
The first doses of Sputnik were expected to arrive in Argentina in the coming days, officials in both countries said. Some 42,254 people in Argentina have died so far from COVID-19, according to official data.
“The product has an acceptable benefit-risk balance,” said a statement from the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology of Argentina or ANMAT.
Some Western scientists have expressed concern about the speed with which Russia has worked, giving regulatory approval to its vaccines and launching large-scale vaccines before complete trials are completed to test the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Sputnik V. Russia says the criticism is unfounded.
Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF, told Reuters that Argentina would receive 300,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccine on Thursday. He said it was one of the largest shipments to Latin America of any vaccine.
“This is a very important step. We think this is great news for Argentina for Christmas. We should all try to help each other given the circumstances, ”said Dmitriev.
Dmitriev said there was high demand for Sputnik from other Latin American countries, adding that he expected more news on Sputnik’s deliveries to the region in January.