MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. company Moderna donated 2.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to Mexico Saturday as the country’s official death toll topped 300,000.
Mexico passed 300,000 test-confirmed coronavirus deaths this week, but so little testing is done in the country that a government review of death certificates puts to real toll at almost 460,000.
Mexican officials welcomed the arrival of the shipment at the airport in Toluca, just west of Mexico City, and said the vaccines will be used to inoculate teachers.
Teachers in Mexico were second after only health care workers to be vaccinated in the spring.
In April and May, over 2.7 million teachers got initial shots. But most of them got the single-dose Chinese CanSino vaccine, whose effectiveness appears to decline over time.
Mexico has now obtained over 200 million doses of vaccines, and has been trying to reopen in-person learning at all levels.
Education Secretary Delfina Gómez said, “We are grateful to receive this donation, which will undoubtedly help more boys, girls and youths to come to classrooms with greater safety and confidence.”
With Shots Finally on Hand, Nations Struggle to Get Them in Arms
ByJames Paton and Antony Sguazzin, January 9, 2022
BLOOMBERG – As shipments of Covid-19 shots ramp up for billions of people left behind last year, and new vaccines make their way to the public, dozens of countries are struggling to turn supplies into inoculations.
A dearth of immunization sites in Cameroon, weak communication and Covid denial in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a syringe shortfall in Kenya are among the hurdles complicating rollouts.
In Zimbabwe, which initially raced ahead of many peers, complacency and a perception of omicron as less serious slowed the campaign; long vaccine queues have turned into a trickle.
“Vaccines, we have plenty,” said Agnes Mahomva, coordinator of Zimbabwe’s national Covid taskforce. “It’s now about how people view the vaccines and getting them to take the shots.”
Starved for vaccines for most of 2021, Covax, the World Health Organization-backed global access program, is now nearing 1 billion doses in shipments. As the focus shifts to increasing immunization in poorer countries in Africa and other regions, officials worry that omicron’s rapid spread could spur the emergence of more shot-evading variants.
Immunization Obstacles
As many as two dozen nations are struggling to use their doses due to supply-chain obstacles, hesitancy and other factors, according to Seth Berkley, head of the vaccine alliance, Gavi, a key Covax partner … READ MORE.
