Mexico City, Jan 30 (EFE).- The Mexican Government defended this Tuesday that its recently endorsed Patria vaccine is effective against the new variants of covid-19, despite criticism from specialists and the opposition.
The drug developed by the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (Conahcyt) “showed effectiveness equivalent to that of other biologicals that are already applied to the population,” said Alejandro Svarch, head of the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks ( Cofepris).
“It protects the population against the variants that currently circulate in the country, so Mexicans can rest assured that we have an effective biological agent,” said Svarch in the morning conference of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Last week, Cofepris endorsed the use of Patria almost three years after the start of the studies in April 2021, when the Government promised that the drug would be ready by the end of that year, but faced obstacles in finding volunteers.
Specialists and opposition deputies questioned the approval by stating that the new drug, which will begin production on February 15, does not protect against new variants of the coronavirus, such as Pirola and JN.1.
But Svarch assured that “this biological is safe and effective as a reinforcement to prevent the contagion and consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as specifically for people over 18 years of age and older with common comorbidities in the country, such as hypertension. , obesity and diabetes.”
Mexico is the fifth country with the most confirmed deaths from covid-19, with more than 334,000 officially recognized.
But López Obrador has defended his Government’s vaccination strategy, which uses the Abdala biological, made in Cuba, and the Sputnik, from Russia, although they are not endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as reinforcement against the covid-19.
The Government acknowledged this Tuesday that it has only applied 5.3 million booster doses against covid-19, 28% of the goal of the campaign that began last October.
Meanwhile, Moderna and Pfizer drugs can only be purchased in private pharmacies. EFE
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2024-01-30 16:02:00
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