Mexico analyzes acquiring the Russian vaccine against covid-19

A Covid-19 patient in a wheelchair is cared for by his relatives after being rejected at a hospital in Mexico City.Teresa de Miguel

The Mexican government has set its eyes on the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against covid-19 in its efforts to combat the new coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of 130,000 people and seems unbeatable in the capital and neighboring State of Mexico , where hospitals are saturated by the increase in infections.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reported this morning that his Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, has traveled to Argentina to learn about the “scientific elements” of the vaccine.

"[He has traveled] to see if for urgent reasons we acquire it, because we need to have enough vaccines," the president explained this Thursday in his morning press conference.

The Mexican health authorities urgently approved the administration of the vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and that developed by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford.

The Pfizer vaccine began to be administered to healthcare personnel at the end of December, although the application is progressing slowly.

President López Obrador has reported this morning that between 4,500 and 5,000 people are vaccinated a day, although he has admitted that more doses are required to achieve immunization of the entire population.

That is why, he explained, that López-Gatell is exploring the use of the Russian drug in Argentina.

"He arrived in Argentina, he is going to see the experience of the vaccine that is being applied, to see the protocols, the technical and scientific elements, reactions in the application, everything that can be obtained from information to see if it can also be acquire this vaccine ”, explained the president.

It is necessary, he added, "to do the exploration first to see if for urgent reasons we acquire it, because we need to vaccinate and have sufficient doses."

López Obrador has also reported that a second batch of the Pfizer drug will arrive in the country between February and March, which will allow progress in the vaccination program that the health authorities have organized.

“The purpose is to be able to immunize all older adults by the end of March.

We are already preparing the vaccination brigades ”, assured the president without giving more details of how the process will be.

However, López Obrador has shown his concern about the increase in contagions of covid-19 in the capital and the neighboring State of Mexico, which have become the epicenters of the pandemic in the North American country.

The president has admitted that the public health system does not have enough specialists to face the demand in hospitals.

“For a long time we have been trying to expand the entire medical infrastructure, but what is costing us the most, the most difficult, are the specialists.

We have proposed to save lives and more doctors are needed ”, said the president, who thanked the Government of Cuba for sending 500 specialists who work, mostly, in military hospitals that have been adequate to face the health emergency .

López Obrador has also reported that his Administration will grant 30,000 new scholarships in specialties to health professionals to expand the trained medical staff.

López-Gatell, the Mexican government czar in the strategy against covid-19 and who in the last week has received harsh criticism for going on vacation to a beach in the midst of the peak of the pandemic, said this morning on Twitter that the His boss's "assignment" is to meet with the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, and the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, "to exchange information on vaccines against covid-19."

The official is accompanied by a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by Efraín Guadarrama, director general of Regional American Organizations and Mechanisms.

Argentina began administering the Russian vaccine on December 29, becoming the first country in Latin America to use Sputnik V. The first 300,000 doses arrived in the South American country on December 24, aboard an Aerolineas Argentina flight specially sent to Moscow.

Five days later, the Government of Alberto Fernández began vaccination simultaneously in the 23 provinces of the country, in addition to the city of Buenos Aires.

The doses received are enough to immunize 76% of the medical personnel who fight the coronavirus from the front line, reports

.

The vaccine, however, has not been without controversy, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the drug was not yet approved for people over 60.

Despite this, the health authorities put their hopes in these drugs, when the country registers almost 1.5 million infected and 130,000 deaths. This Thursday morning, the governor of the State of Oaxaca, located in the southwestern region of the country, Alejandro Murat, has announced that he has tested positive for covid-19. “I will be isolated and follow the health recommendations. I am fine, I will be attentive and follow-up from Oaxaca to the functions that correspond to me as governor ”, said the president.