The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) was in charge of authorizing the vaccine.

The Government of Mexico, through the health authority, authorized this Monday the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for emergency use against Covid-19.

Hugo López-Gatell, undersecretary of Health and strategist of the Government of Mexico against Covid-19, reported that the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) was in charge of authorizing the vaccine.

“It is possible that as of March we will have the AstraZeneca vaccine. Its authorization is for emergency use,” the official said at a press conference.

In addition, the official recalled that Mexico has pre-purchase contracts for 34.4 million doses from Pfizer; 77.4 million from the British AstraZeneca, 35 million from the Chinese CanSino and 34.4 million from the Covax platform of the World Health Organization (WHO).

At the end of last November, an efficacy of up to 90% of the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the English University of Oxford with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was demonstrated, it was also mentioned that it is relatively cheap and is easily preserved, which would facilitate its distribution globally.

Meanwhile, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard considered the authorization to AstraZeneca as “very good news” and said that “with this, production in Mexico will begin very soon.”

In Mexico, vaccination began on December 24 with few doses that are being supplied only to medical personnel in the front row in combat against Covid-19 in the metropolitan area of ​​Mexico City and in the states of Coahuila and Nuevo León.

Regarding the particular case of a doctor from the state of Nuevo León, who presented a complication after receiving the vaccine, the health authorities indicated that she presented “an event supposedly attributable to vaccination and immunization” after receiving the Pzifer vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 virus.

They reported that he continues to receive specialized medical care and has reported an improvement in his state of health since he responded favorably to treatment.

According to the Mexican Government, it expects to have vaccinated 700,000 health workers by the end of January and to begin the free and gradual vaccination of the rest of the population, of 130 million inhabitants, depending on age and chronic diseases.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador specified that Mexico ranks first in Latin America and thirteenth in the world in vaccinating Covid-19 with almost 40,000 doses applied to this day.

Until this Monday, Mexico reported 6,464 new cases of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and 544 deaths from Covid-19, reaching a total of 1,455,219 infections and 127,757 deaths, health authorities reported.