By KELIN DILLON

During his daily press conference on the morning of Tuesday, Dec.12, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced that mass distribution of the covid-19 vaccine among the general population will soon begin, starting with Mexico’s elderly population, once all health workers dealing with covid patients have been inoculated.

All of the elderly in Mexico are expected to have received vaccinations against coronavirus by April at the latest, AMLO said. 

López Obrador said that vaccinating the elderly population is a priority as it should decrease Mexico’s covid-related mortality rate by 80 percent, according to specialists.

AMLO said that once the elderly have been vaccinated, the next up on the list are chronically ill people under age 60, and teachers in green light states who have been given the go-ahead to resume in-person classes, with the rest of the population to follow.

“It is about vaccinating all Mexicans and also residents of foreign countries in Mexico, everyone,” said López Obrador, reiterating his commitment to inoculate the entire nation against coronavirus. “It is universal vaccination, and what does that mean? To all, to all and free.”

“It is about vaccinating all Mexicans and also residents of foreign countries in Mexico, everyone. It is universal vaccination and what does that mean? To all, to all and free.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López ObradoR

AMLO also announced the creation of 10,000 vaccination brigades to help distribute the vaccine throughout the country. Each brigade will consist of 12 people: four military personnel, four government representatives, two medical personnel and two volunteers.

A thousand of the brigades are being sent out starting this week to help distribute the remainder of vaccinations received from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer throughout hospitals. 

Another 400,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Mexico on Tuesday morning, making it the fifth shipment of the vaccine to arrive in the country.

Mexico has made deals to import other vaccines in addition to the Pfizer brand, including contracts for the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and China’s CanSino vaccine.

Most of Mexico’s purchased doses of the Pfizer vaccine will likely be used during the vaccination of the elderly population, leaving the other vaccine options to be used for the inoculation of the country’s remaining inhabitants.

…Jan. 13, 2021