MEXICO CITY (AP) – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Sunday that his government had agreed to a UN proposal to delay shipments of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to countries like Mexico that had liquidated purchase agreements in order to to get more doses to the poorest countries more quickly.
López Obrador said that delayed shipments will be recovered later.
“In any case, this will not change our plan, because we are already looking for other vaccines,” said López Obrador, referring to the AstraZeneca vaccine and also to the Chinese CanSino and Russian Sputnik V vaccines, none of which have been approved to use yet. “We will have enough vaccines.”
Mexico has so far received almost half a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and has used almost all of them.
López Obrador criticized the wealthier countries that stockpile large quantities of vaccines but do not use them.
“We will have more authority and rights than those who take vaccines and do not administer them, which keeps them frozen, as is happening in some countries in Europe,” said López Obrador.
Vaccination teams of top health care professionals in Mexico have so far administered some 463,000 vaccines, well below the country’s total of 750,000 of these workers, each of whom will require two doses.
Mexico released its second day of more than 20,000 coronavirus infections on Saturday, suggesting an increase in a country that is already struggling in many areas with overcrowded hospitals.
There were 20,523 new cases confirmed on Saturday, after 21,366 infections were reported on Friday. On Sunday, 11,170 new cases were confirmed. Reports typically decline on weekends, so next week may bring in even greater numbers.
Authorities reported 1,219 deaths on Saturday, which was almost a record for one day, and 463 deaths on Sunday.
Mexico has recorded more than 1.64 million total infections and has recorded more than 140,000 deaths so far in the pandemic. With the country’s extremely low testing rate, official estimates suggest that the actual death toll is close to 195,000.