Photo: Johns Hopkins Medicine

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said Friday, Dec. 10, that all Mexicans will receive booster shots against the covid-19 virus.

Speaking during his daily press conference, this time in the northern state of Chihuahua, AMLO said that the federal government will administer AstraZeneca boosters to all eligible Mexicans in accord with internationally established vaccination guidelines, starting with the elderly and those with preexisting medical conditions.

“We are already doing this,” he said, when asked about whether his administration would provide covid boosters to better protect against the more contagious omicron variant.

“We are starting with adults over 60, and then we will move on to teachers. There will enough booster shots for everyone.”

AMLO went on to say that through the government’s national vaccine program, more than 65 million people have already been fully vaccinated, representing 83 percent of the total population.

“We have allocated around 40 billion pesos for the acquisition of vaccines and Mexico is ranked seventh worldwide in terms of vaccine availability,” he added.

AMLO also stressed that it is important that all those who have not yet been fully vaccinated, especially in remote rural communities, get their shots in order to avoid an increase in hospitalizations due to the delta and omicron variants.

“The best protection (against the covid virus) is the vaccine, and we have to make sure that everyone is vaccinated, that no one is left unvaccinated. Evidence has shown that those who are being hospitalized and dying are almost all unvaccinated,” he said.

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, Mexican Undersecretary of Public Health Hugo López-Gatell said that the only booster dose that will be administered is that of AstraZeneca, regardless of which vaccine was applied in the first vaccination regimen.