03/24/2021 2:53 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/24/2021 2:53 PM
Mexico announced this Wednesday that in a month it will
begin to distribute doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine
against the coronavirus to the Latin American countries that bought it, including Argentina.
This was confirmed by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who assured that the first shipments will be made
in the third week of April
.
This vaccine is developed jointly with Argentina.
In our country the active substance is made and in Mexico the packaging process is carried out.
According to the national vaccination plan, released by the Ministry of Health of the Nation, Argentina bought
more than 22 million doses of this vaccine
.
In March, the first
1,191,000
were due to arrive
and in April, another
4,635,500
.
But due to delays in production, deliveries were postponed.
Foreign Minister Ebrard's announcement coincided with a new call from President Andrés López Obrador to the United Nations (UN) to make "a greater effort in the delivery" of antigens through the Covax mechanism, aimed at poor countries, because it done so far "not enough".
"So far, a large number of nations continue without a single dose against Covid-19," said the president.
"The UN has already begun to deliver batches through this mechanism to countries with marginalized populations, but it is not enough. It has to make a greater effort. We call it that because a greater percentage is being commercialized directly between laboratories," he said. .
The agreement for the delivery of vaccines to Latin America with AstraZeneca has the backing of telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, whose empire spans several countries in the region.
Ebrard said that this Thursday a new shipment of the active substance will arrive to be packaged at the Liomont plant in the municipality of Ocoyoacac, state of Mexico, about 70 kilometers from the capital.
On January 18, the first shipment of the active substance from the Anglo-Swedish company was sent from Argentina, which has been in the focus of public attention, accused in the United States of falsifying clinical trials and in Europe that its biological agent causes blood clots.
However, health authorities in Europe, Great Britain and the United States, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) have given a "green light" to this vaccine and have indicated that its side effects are minimal, compared to the great benefit they can have in humans.
The first batch of the biological active ingredient of this drug, for 5.23 liters, allowed the packaging
of more than a million doses
, which were only available last week, due to the lack of some supplies such as vials and syringes.
The pharmaceutical company agreed to produce a total of
77.4 million doses
that will be distributed in Mexico and another
200 million
requested by various Latin American countries.
Just over 10% were hired by Argentina.
The vaccine, developed by the alliance of the University of Oxford with the AstraZeneca laboratory, is manufactured at the plant of the biotechnology company Mabxience in Buenos Aires, Argentina and packaged at the Liomont Laboratories in Mexico.
During his official visit to Mexico, President Alberto Fernández toured the Covid-19 vaccine packaging plant and verified the progress of immunizing substances.
With data from ANSA
DD
Look also
The weekend will begin the delivery of COVAX vaccines
Coronavirus: vaccinated people are highly unlikely to get infected
