Shortage of Vaccines and Medicines in Mexico: Report Finds Alarming Drop in Coverage

In the last six years, there has been a serious drop in the roof all vaccines of the scheme of the Universal Vaccination Program, The Zero Desabasto Collective pointed out in the report “X-ray of the shortage of medicines in Mexico 2022”.

“Some vaccines have bottomed out, for example the application of BCG with 27% coverage in 2020, Hepatitis B with 39.4% coverage in 2021, SRP with 54% in 2019 (prior to the measles outbreak) , and lack of application of the HPV vaccine during 2020 and 2021 due, on the one hand, to the international shortage and, on the other, to the slow management of the authorities for its acquisition”, he specified.

During the past year, the coverage of some vaccines at the national level presented very low levels, compared to the percentages reported in the last year of the administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto. For example, the application of the first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine dropped from 100% in 2018 to 58% in 2022.

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And in the case of the HPV vaccine, which in 2018 had 97% coverage, last year it only reached 63.7%; and during 2020 and 2021 not a single one of these vaccines was applied.

“In the last six years, we have been well below the national goals for the program, which is 90% coverage. (In 2022) the average coverage of the Universal Vaccination Program reached 84.7%”, explained Frida Romay, a member of the group.

Regarding the shortage of medicines, as EL UNIVERSAL announced yesterday, more than 15.2 million prescriptions were not effectively filled in the main social security institutions during 2022.

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Andrés Castañeda, coordinator of Cero Desabasto, pointed out that the content of the report reflects “a tremendous fragility in the chain of access to medicines in Mexico”, because a change, no matter how small, “wobbles it completely”.

“We should fight for a national pharmaceutical policy to exist, this is not a new idea, it is very clear that it is the way to go, that it is what works. It is a strategy that allows us to strengthen the supply chain, and identify where there are points of vulnerability”, he specified.

In this sense, the IMSS had the highest number of complaints last year for not supplying medicines or supplies. Of a total of 11,741: Social Security has 7,072; the IMSS-Well-being, 3 thousand 112; and ISSSTE thousand 172.

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Among the medicines with the most complaints about shortages, reported by the IMSS last year, are those related to mental health, diabetes, Parkinson’s, some analgesics and hypertension.

For example, Clonazepam 2mg tablets (385 complaints), Sitagliptin Metformin (309), NPH intermediate-acting human insulin 100 IU solution for injection (279), Levodopa and Carbidopa 250mg725mg tablets (274) and Celecoxib 200mg capsules (212).

The report also indicates that the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF) carried out 25 audits of the Health Sector at the federal level, of which 110 promotions of administrative sanctioning responsibility for actions or omissions were issued.

A sample of more than half of the budget amount allocated to health at the federal level (63.9%) was audited, and 885.4 million pesos were observed, of which 682.9 million were recovered.

“This implies that, although 77% of the audited public resources were recovered, this amount was not used or fulfilled the purposes for which it was intended. The remaining amount, that is, 202.4 million pesos, not only were not allocated, but they have not been reintegrated into the treasury either,” said the Collective.

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