• CHINESE: The first batch of nearly one million doses of China’s CanSino Covid-19 vaccine bottled in Mexico finally left a packaging plant in the central state of Querétaro on Monday as the country scrambles to increase the pace of vaccination which is currently one of the slowest in Latin America.
• DELAYS: In December, Mexico signed a deal to buy 35 million CanSino’s single shot vaccines and has received enough active substance for 5 million doses to be bottled domestically so far. Despite having received shipments since February, bottling plant’s lack of certification caused delays.
• DELIVERED: “I thank [Chinese] Ambassador [to Mexico] Zhu Qingqiao for his support to achieve phase 3 and completion in Mexico, the only country in which it is being done: 940,020 single doses delivered today. Thanks!” Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter on Monday.
• CANSINO: The CanSino vaccine does not require subzero temperatures for storage which would make it easier to distribute in rural Mexico. According to Our World in Data, Mexico’s vaccination rate per 100 people is 4.48, way below many other large and small countries in Latin America.
