MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexico announced on Friday that Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac has submitted documentation requesting approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country. Another Chinese firm, CanSino Biologics, has submitted partial documentation.
The Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, wrote on Twitter that the CanSino vaccine has been “successfully applied” in clinical trials and that the biopharmaceutical had requested authorization for use. But the Undersecretary of Health Hugo López-Gatell later clarified that he only “provided a preview” of the documents, and noted that “the results are not yet” of the phase 3 tests.
CanSino has not released an estimated efficacy rate. Presumably Mexico will require these figures to give its approval.
Sinovac has published a diverse range of efficacy estimates for the CoronaVac vaccine from phase 3 trials in other countries, ranging from 50.65% for preventing infections to 100% for preventing severe cases.
Mexico is running out of vaccines, and has placed hope in the CanSino vaccine, which is a single dose. The Chinese company has carried out phase 3 tests with 14,425 volunteers in Mexico.
The Latin American country has a commitment from CanSino that it will deliver 8 million doses by March, and has shown optimism in the Chinese vaccine because it is relatively easy to handle, in addition to being finished and packaged in a local plant.
Mexico also recently approved the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, but will not receive doses of it, or more doses of Pfizer, until the next few weeks.
Mexico has received only about 760,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, of which it only has about 60,000 left, and many of those will be used for second doses. So far, the country has only been able to inoculate half of its front-line medical staff.
Mexico registered 13,051 new confirmed coronavirus infections on Friday, for a total of 1.89 million. It also reported another 1,368 deaths, bringing it to 164,290 deaths from COVID-19. However, the country performs very few diagnostic tests, and estimates of excess mortality indicate that the true figure is well above 195,000.
Mexico City, the current epicenter of the pandemic, continues at a “red light”, its highest alert level, and its hospitals have an occupancy rate of over 80%. However, the city government announced on Friday that it will allow the reopening of shopping centers with a capacity of 20%, on the condition that customers do not stay more than half an hour inside. How these regulations will be enforced is unknown.
The city’s restaurants may be open for three more hours towards the end of the day, but only on their terraces or outdoor spaces.
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