By KELIN DILLON

Mexico has started the process of vaccinating its vulnerable elderly population against covid-19, with all Mexican inhabitants above the age of 60 theoretically available to receive the vaccine as of Tuesday, Feb. 2. 

The new phase began the same day that the esteemed international medical journal The Lancet published a peer-reviewed analysis of trials of the Russian Sputnik V, which found the vaccine to have a 91.6 percent efficacy and safe for use.

Critics were previously concerned that the mass use of an untested vaccine that hadn’t yet finished clinical trials could be dangerous, due to its potentially unknown side effects, but they can now find reassurance following The Lancet’s affirmation of Sputnik V’s efficiency, given the publication’s widespread respect throughout the medical community.

The Lancet’s report also found Sputnik V to be particularly effective in the elderly population, a finding that bodes well for Mexico as it transitions into the mass inoculation of those age 60 and above, given the country’s large contract for the Russian-made vaccine.

The Lancet’s report also found Sputnik V to be particularly effective in the elderly population, a finding that bodes well for Mexico as it transitions into the mass inoculation of those age 60 and above, given the country’s large contract for the Russian-made vaccine.

Though Sputnik V has yet to be approved by Mexico’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk (Cofepris), Hugo López-Gatell, undersecretary for the Prevention and Health Promotion at the Secretariat of Public Health, said in press conference on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 2, that he expected the government’s medical watchdog Cofepris’s approval for the emergency use of Sputnik V to find approval that very same day, opening the door for its use in the nation’s mass inoculation program. By late afternoon, that approval had been given.

Back in January, following a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) confirmed Mexico’s contract for 24 million doses of Sputnik V, enough to apply to 12 million people, since the vaccine requires two applications per person. 

According to López-Gatell, Mexico expects 400,000 doses of Sputnik V to be delivered in this month of February, followed by a million in March and another 6 million doses in April.

Mexico is also expecting 1.5 million doses from Pfizer to arrive on Feb. 10, as well as the delivery of between 1.6 and 2.7 million AstraZeneca vaccines (the development of which was helped funded by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim) through the United Nations’ Covax Initiative expected to arrive between February and March.

Despite being one of the first countries in Latin America to implement vaccines, since the head start, Mexico has so far lagged behind in its schedule, having only vaccinated 670,000 of its inhabitants, less than half a percent of the total population.

Despite being one of the first countries in Latin America to implement vaccines, since the head start, Mexico has so far lagged behind in its schedule, having only vaccinated 670,000 of its inhabitants, less than half a percent of the total population.

According to the New York Times, at the vaccination speed Mexico has gone, it will be 105 months before half of the population receives even one dose of the vaccine.

Hopefully, with large vaccine shipments set to arrive and vaccinations now available for the elderly, Mexico’s slow start is all about to change.

Adults over the age of 60 can sign up on the government’s newly established online vaccination portal to get their vaccine appointment. 

Once on the portal, users will enter the elderly person’s CURP and verify its data, followed by entering the location, zip code and the telephone and/or email of the elderly person, as well as a contact note. The portal makes it possible for family members or caretakers to make the appointment on the behalf of the elderly, due to potential generational differences of technological literacy.

Some foreigners reported their CURP not being recognized by the system.

The website faced several technical difficulties on its launch day, though issues were to be expected due to its newness in nature and a high volume of traffic as people rushed to sign up.

Also, some foreigners reported their CURP not being recognized by the system, though these glitches are expected to be sorted out sooner rather than later.

Once a vaccine is available, the inputted information will be used to contact the person with the time, date and location of their appointment. Recipients of the vaccine are asked to show up no more than 15 minutes early to their appointment to avoid crowding of the vaccination centers, as well as to have already eaten and taken all of their usual medications.

As of now, it is unclear whether or not recipients will be informed of which version of the vaccine they receive at their appointment.

…Feb. 3, 2021