Mexico authorizes use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19

The Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) of Mexico, which regulates the use of medicines, on Tuesday authorized the emergency use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, authorities reported.

“Cofepris has just granted authorization for the emergency use of the Sputnik V vaccine,” Hugo López Gatell, undersecretary of Health and strategist against the pandemic, said at a press conference.

Once the use of Sputnik V was authorized, the Russians have the “commitment to send 400,000 doses to Mexico in very few days.” The vaccine will be injected into 200,000 people, as it is a two-application formula.

López explained that Mexico has already signed the contract for the purchase of this vaccine.

On January 25, the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced, after a call with his Russian peer, Vladimir Putin, that Mexico had agreed to purchase 24 million Sputnik V vaccines.

The medical journal The Lancet published on Tuesday that Sputnik V has an efficacy of 91.6% against Covid-19 in its symptomatic manifestations.

Mexico was the first Latin American country to apply a vaccine against Covid-19 on December 24, followed, on the same day, by Chile and Costa Rica.

Until now, only the formula of the American-German firm Pfizer / BioNTech has been used, which has been applied to health personnel from all over the country and to teachers from southern Mexico.

Another vaccine already approved by Cofepris is that of AstraZeneca, developed with the University of Oxford and which will be packaged in this country after being produced in Argentina.

Mexico joins a dozen countries that have already approved the Russian vaccine against Covid-19, including Argentina and Venezuela.

Days ago, Mexico received a first shipment of the active ingredient from AstraZeneca and it is expected that from March it will be available for local use and for export to Latin America.

Mexico, with 126 million inhabitants, summed 1,874,092 infections and 159,533 deaths from Covid-19 as of Tuesday.