- Thanks to an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Mexico will acquire 24 million doses to vaccinate 12 million Mexicans.
- The vaccines will begin to be administered on Wednesday.
At 10:37 p.m. on February 22, the Government of Mexico received a first shipment of 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine produced in Russia by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology. These are the first doses of a total of 24 million that Mexico has contracted to purchase through the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). They will enable 12 million people to be vaccinated.
The shipment arrived at terminal 1 of the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City (AICM) on British Airways flight BAW3570 from London, England, after departing from the Moscow Domodedovo Airport (DME) on flight BA88F1.
Sixty-five members of the Mexican Army and AICM personnel participated in the logistics, transfer and security of the shipment.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard received the vaccines and announced that they will begin to be administered on February 23. He said that this first shipment is the result of the recent conversation between President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he thanked the Russian government for its support, and the efforts of its ambassador in Mexico, Víktor Koronelli, so that Mexico had access to the vaccine.
Secretary Ebrard reported that the Mexican government signed a contract with the Russian government and has made the necessary advance payments and taken the steps required to receive this and additional shipments of the vaccine in the coming days. He highlighted the fact that “they are sharing the vaccine when they have not yet finished vaccinating everyone in their country, which gives even greater value to their gesture of solidarity and closeness to Mexico."
The Customs Administration will be in charge of the customs clearance process, and Birmex, a state-owned company, will be in charge of accepting, safeguarding and distributing the vaccine.
The head of the Customs Administration, Horacio Duarte Olivares, said that the arrival of the Russian vaccine is a source of hope for Mexico. It will enable the National COVID-19 Vaccination Policy to continue to advance in the prevention of the virus in Mexico. This scenario forces the institution he heads to be more efficient, since the goal is to "fulfill the expectations of our citizens who are seeing these flights arrive from friendly nations to support us in our fight against COVID-19."
The Director General of Laboratorios de Biologicos y Reactivos de México (Birmex), Pedro Zenteno Santaella, reported that the vaccines will be transferred to the National Institute of Virology to be distributed from there.
Another shipment of vaccines will be received on Tuesday, February 23, with 511,000 doses from the Pfizer-BioNTech pharmaceutical company. In accordance with the President's instructions, Mexico's inter-institutional work is focused on ensuring that shipments arrive in a timely manner, in accordance with what has been agreed with various governments and laboratories.
Russia's ambassador in Mexico, Viktor Koronelli, said that the Sputnik V vaccine was the first vaccine to be registered in the world, so it is gratifying to be part of the committee receiving a shipment for its use in Mexico. The vaccine produced by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology has received emergency use authorization in more than 30 countries, including some in Europe, he said.
Russia is currently engaged in supplying the Sputnik V vaccine to countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Venezuela and now Mexico. The arrival of the vaccine in Mexico is the result of the agreements reached between the presidents and foreign ministers of both countries.
"This is clear evidence that the Russian-Mexican relationship that turned 130 years old a few months ago, is not only one of friendship but also has an aspect of strategic cooperation," he said.
As of Monday, the Government of Mexico has received a total of 10 shipments on 14 flights with vaccines from four different laboratories, as folows:
Mexico has also received three bulk shipments with active ingredient for its final fill/finish, as follows:
