Photo: Merck

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Mexican Undersecretary of Public Health and federal covid-19 czar Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday, Jan. 18, that, for now at least, the acquisition and administration of the newly approved anti-covid pills will remain in the hands of the government.

“Commercial registration authorizations will not, at this time, be granted for their use or administration,” he said during the morning press conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

“They cannot be sold for commercial purposes, and their administration will be strictly within the context of emergency use.”

López-Gatell said that the drugs — specifically, Merck’s Molnupiravir and Pfizer’s Paxlovid — will have specific centers where they will be administered.

On Monday, Jan. 17, López Obrador said that the federal government was analyzing the possibility that treatments against covid-19 could be put up for sale in pharmacies.

López-Gatell said that anti-covid pills should only be taken by those patients at risk of complications.

“Their use is for people at high risk of complications,” he said.

“Not everyone would need this drug, not everyone should take it. In fact, a minority of people should take it. It is very important to keep it in mind that it is not for widespread use, but for high-profile patients with a probability of complications.”

He said that the federal government will administer the new treatments against covid-19 in the same way that it has done with the vaccines.