MEXICO CITY (AP) – The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks of Mexico approved on Thursday the use of the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus for people over 12 years old at a time when the country shows a growth in infections, which which has led the authorities to raise the risk in the capital and some states.
The approval of the US vaccine, which is the first allowed for adolescents in Mexico, was announced on Thursday by the Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, on his Twitter account. The measure comes a few days after the government announced the opening of the vaccination registry for people between 30 and 39 years old, whose inoculation will begin soon.
The vaccination plan against COVID-19 began in Mexico on December 24 with health personnel and was later extended to people over 60 years of age, teachers and pregnant women in the ninth week of gestation. Between May and this month, people between 59 and 40 years of age were included in the vaccination plan.
The Undersecretary of Health admitted that there has been a 9% increase in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, which already reach 2.49 million, but added that the hospitalization record remains down. Mexico accumulates 232,068 deaths from coronavirus, which places Latin American country in fourth place in the world with the most deaths from the pandemic, surpassed by the United States, Brazil and India.
The federal Ministry of Health announced last week an increase in the risk of the coronavirus in Mexico City, where it went from low risk level (green traffic light) to medium (yellow traffic light) after less than two weeks of having relaxed controls, which allowed the partial opening of schools and a greater capacity in shops, restaurants and other closed premises, stadiums and outdoor spaces.
The increased risk had to do with the increase in infections in the Mexican capital, a situation that has also been reported in the tourist states of Yucatán and Baja California. As part of the control measures, the closure of the schools in Mexico City was again ordered.
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