Mexico administers over 1M coronavirus vaccine jabs

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO (AA) - Mexico has so far immunized 1,058,139 people against COVID-19 through its vaccination campaign, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said Wednesday.

During a press conference on the pandemic, Lopez-Gatell announced that 104,666 doses were administered today.

The vaccination campaign has been prioritizing front-line medical workers and senior citizens in the country's most marginalized regions. However, in the southeastern state of Campeche, vaccination just started for school teachers. The state has reported low case numbers for four consecutive months.

Mexico received 875,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday. In addition, Pfizer-BioNTech sent the latest shipment of over half a million vaccine doses which has arrived in the country’s capital.

But to acquire the much-needed vaccines has been a challenge altogether for many countries worldwide.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard addressed the UN Security Council, denouncing the unjust distribution of vaccines, noting that the wealthiest countries hold the majority of the doses while the most impoverished nations will not have access to vaccines until 2023.

"Ten countries have two-thirds of the vaccines applied, while 100 countries have none. That is why we have never seen such a deep division that has affected so many in such a short time. It is urgent to reverse the injustice that is being committed. The safety of all humanity depends on it,” he said on his Twitter account.

Mexico has reported over 2 million cases, 177,061 deaths and more than 1.5 million recoveries.