Mexico’s health regulator, Cofepris, this week approved Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in the country, just one day after the respected British medical journal, The Lancet, published the results of late stage trials confirmingthat it gives around 92 percent protection against Covid-19.
Mexico has pre-ordered 24 million doses of the Russian vaccine, which should start arriving later this month.
While acknowledging that the “development of Sputnik V has been criticized for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency,” the journal stressed that the “scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated” and that the “vaccine had good effect in all age groups.”
Some commentators still believe Mexico should only start applying the Russian vaccine once it has received a thumbs up from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA).