MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico plans to import about 870,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine from India in February, as well as to manufacture it locally, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday.
Mexico and Argentina have an agreement with AstraZeneca to produce the vaccine for distribution in Latin America, with financial support from the founding of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
“We are also getting AstraZeneca vaccines, apart from the agreement we have with them – these vaccines are made here in Mexico – we will bring AstraZeneca from India,” Lopez Obrador said in a video broadcast on social media.
Meanwhile, the delivery of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico will “most likely” resume on February 10, Lopez Obrador said, following the US company’s global delay. Mexico expected about 1.5 million doses of Pfizer, he noted.
Mexico is trying as much vaccine supply as possible amid delivery delays and an increase in cases. Mexico’s death toll from COVID-19 was 156,579 on Friday.
Lopez Obrador, who spoke in public for the first time since revealing Sunday that he had COVID-19, said Mexico would also receive 870,000 doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccine in February.
In addition, Lopez Obrador said 1.8 million vaccine doses would come next month through a UN-backed mechanism, apparently referring to the global COVAX facility.
Mexico has secured enough vaccines to cover 20% of its 126 million people through COVAX, led by the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization to promote equitable access.
Six million doses of the CanSino Biologics vaccine, which will soon share its clinical trial results, should arrive in Mexico in February, Lopez Obrador said.
It would also be a problem for Mexico to have 12 million doses of Chinese vaccine in March, he added.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Sharay Angulo; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)