Mexico First Country in Latin America to Market Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines, Sparking High Demand and Concerns

(CNN Spanish) — Three years after Mexico first applied a vaccine against Covid-19, this week it became the first country in Latin America to market the product, in its updated version manufactured by Pfizer, the US laboratory told CNN this Thursday. .

For its part, the new Moderna vaccine also began to be sold, as confirmed in statements to the Telefórmula network by Alejandra Espinosa de los Monteros, director of the vaccine unit at Asofarma, a firm that is a commercial partner of Moderna.

The authorization of the Pfizer and Moderna laboratories to sell their Covid-19 vaccines in Mexico occurs at the same time as the immunization campaign carried out by the national government with the Abdala vaccines, from Cuba, and Sputnik, from Russia.

The Pfizer vaccine began its authorized sale to the public this Wednesday in large pharmaceutical chains such as San Pablo, Del Ahorro, Benavides and Guadalajara, with a price of about US$49 (845 Mexican pesos), the laboratory reported in a statement. The firm said it also plans to distribute it to vaccination centers, vaccinating doctors and hospitals.

Pfizer said that the biological against the Sars-Cov2 virus that it distributes in Mexico is the version adapted against multiple sublineages of omicron XBB, “which attacks the strains of the virus that circulate in most of the world, including Mexico.”

Since this Wednesday when their sale began, CNN observed long lines outside branches of two chains that distribute them in Mexico. But a few hours after the sale began, the doses were sold out, which sparked doubts among the public about whether there will be enough vaccines available, especially in this winter season when respiratory diseases are increasing.

The San Pablo pharmaceutical chain said in a statement that on Wednesday it put 4,500 doses on sale in 77 branches in the Valley of Mexico and the states of Puebla, Querétaro and Morelos. Due to the high demand for the vaccine, 16,000 more doses would be received this Thursday to be applied in 77 branches in the aforementioned states.

Pfizer told CNN this Thursday that three shipments of the vaccine will arrive in Mexico this month, and in January one per week from Pfizer’s Puurs plant in Belgium.

Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine began to arrive in Mexico on December 15, a week after the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris) reported that it had granted authorization for the sale of the Spikevax vaccines. made by Moderna, and Comirnaty, from Pfizer.

Since the first vaccines against covid-19 arrived in Mexico in December 2020, the doses had been protected and controlled by government authorities and their marketing was prohibited.

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said this week that anyone who wants to buy vaccines from individuals is free to do so, although he does not agree to regulate their price. He emphasized that the Mexican State must guarantee vaccines to the population.

In the United States, the price of the Moderna vaccine in the private sector is US$128; The price for the Pfizer vaccine is US$115, according to records from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

The country began the federal vaccination campaign against covid-19 and Influenza on October 16. In the case of the first, the goal is to apply 19.4 million doses of the Cuban biological Abdala and the Russian Sputnik.

The Ministry of Health reported this Tuesday that more than 3.8 million doses of vaccines against covid-19 have been applied, covering approximately 18% of the government goal.

2023-12-22 05:37:00
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