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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

All adult Mexicans will have received at least one dosage of a covid-19 vaccine by October, ahead of the traditional winter flu season, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said Tuesday, May 18.

Speaking during his daily press conference at the National Palace, AMLO pointed out that the government’s national vaccination program has recently been expanded from covering just people age 60 and above to include all Mexicans between 50 and 59 years old, as well as pregnant women from 18 years old.

He also said that vaccination for people between 40 and 49 years old is expected to begin in July.

“And according to our current availability of vaccines, we want to complete the national vaccination program for the month of October, long before winter begins,” he said.

“That is the general plan.”

AMLO also said that he also intends to increase the government’s covid vaccine brigades, which currently number 100,000 — with 12 members each, composed of military supervisors, AMLO’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) political party members and just two medical professionals — in order to reach more people.

According to Mexican government data, the country is due to receive 5 million covid vaccines this week, the highest figure for a week so far.

López-Gatell Video Mexico will receive 5 million COVID vaccine, the highest figure for a single week.

Mexico began its covid vaccination program in December of last year, but has been dismally slow in meeting the demand of its 126 million-strong population.

As of Monday, May 15, Mexico had applied just over 15 million covid-19 vaccines, including both single-dose and double-dose formulas, according to the Mexican Public Health Secretariat.

The Mexican government is currently using a smörgåsbord of different vaccines, including the two-dos U.S. Pfizer/BioNTech, British Oxford-AstraZeneca, Russian Sputnik V and Chinese Sinovac, and the single-dose Chinese CanSino.

Asked whether children would also qualify for vaccinations, López Obrador that his government will wait for further recommendations for the World Health Organization (WHO) before deciding.