Mexico elderly could get coronavirus vaccines in January

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico expects to wrap up its first-dose COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers by early January, before moving to inoculate elderly people in the month’s second half, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday.

The second day of vaccinations for medical staff saw the health ministry record 6,217 new confirmed infections and 400 more deaths, taking Mexico’s tally to 1,383,434 cases and 122,426 deaths.

“Finishing with health personnel…by the second two weeks of January, we start with the elderly,” Lopez Obrador said in a video posted on Twitter, adding that the vaccine would be taken to any who were housebound.

Mexico has received two shipments of vaccine from Pfizer, and Lopez Obrador said the drugmaker would provide enough vaccines for about 700,000 to 750,000 people by March.

The president added that he expected vaccines from China’s CanSino Biologics, with which Mexico has a pact to buy 35 million doses, to begin arriving in January.

CanSino’s vaccine, which was set to have been submitted last week for review by Mexico’s health regulator, is administered in a single dose, compared to Pfizer’s, which is delivered in two doses several weeks apart.

Source: Reuters