A total of 2,851,000 doses from Abdala vaccine against COVID-19 arrived in Mexico between Friday and Saturday, despite the multiple criticisms that the vaccination plan in that country with the Cuban medicine has received.
According to one note published by the federal Ministry of Health, the cargo was received on two flights of the Mexican Air Force that landed at Military Base No. 1, in Santa Lucía, State of Mexico.
This recent acquisition by the Mexican government will be used during the 2023-2024 National Winter Vaccination Campaign, which began on October 16 and will run until March 31, 2024.
Personnel from the Biological and Reagent Laboratories of Mexico (Birmex), the National Center for Child and Adolescent Health (Censia) and the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks participated in the arrival, transfer and safety of the doses ( Cofepris), in addition to elements of the Mexican Army and the National Guard, the note indicated.
Birmex will be responsible for the distribution of the vaccine to all federal entities.
The Mexican government has opted for Cuban vaccines since its inception, despite the continuous irregularities that have occurred in their application in national territory.
At the end of 2022, the drug had been offered as the only option to the citizens of the Mexican capital and between December 21 of that year and January 24, 2023 Not even 2,500 doses were administered per day. Only one percent of the population chose to receive the dose.
The main causes of distrust among the Mexican population are that the medicine does not have the endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its effectiveness would only be proven against the original virus and not against dangerous variants such as omicron.
Other details that affect the credibility of the drug recently came to light. In the state of Morelos, workers from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) reported that their bosses forced them to put Abdala vaccine expired dosages.
The complainants released photos of the bottles whose doses correspond to the lot A182029 with an expiration date of August 2023.
This fact caused Mexican deputies to formally present a complaint against the Ministry of Health and Cofepris for the purchase and application of Abdala.
The deputy for the National Action Party (PAN) Ector Jaime Ramírez Barba He said that this is one of several complaints that will be presented for the purchase of vaccines from Cuba, many of which expired before being applied.
The accusing party calls to "investigate the reason why they now want to apply these vaccines with an extension letter and they were not applied at the time."
Following criticism of the government for the purchases of Cuban vaccines, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave a boost to drugs by taking a dose in public, after his usual morning press conference on October 24.
"You can go to the Social Security hospitals, the ISSSTE, also the Navy hospitals, the Sedena hospitals, the Pemex hospitals, all those that are federal hospitals and the IMSS-Wellbeing and it is already being organized so that this entire season can be apply the vaccine and take care of ourselves for the winter, that's what this vaccine is for, both of them,” said the head of the federal cabinet.
Likewise, the Ministry of Health has called for the population most at risk of presenting severe symptoms of the disease to come and be immunized, which includes people over 60 years of age, with comorbidities, pregnant women, and health care personnel. In the case of seasonal influenza, boys and girls between six and 59 months are also immunized.
Precisely, in September, the Mexican government announced the signing of a agreement with Cuba for the purchase of nine million doses of Abdala, which would be used in children between 5 and 11 years old.
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