President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has written to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) asking the agency to approve the Chinese Cansino and Russian Sputnik V anti-Covid vaccines, both of which are being applied in Mexico.
The president is concerned that many countries, including the United States and Canada, are only allowing entry to foreign visitors fully immunized with WHO-approved Covid shots. Neither Cansino or Sputnik have WHO approval.
Lopez Obrador’s pleas come on the heels of an announcement that the Mexican state laboratory Birmex will begin bottling and packaging the Sputnik vaccine in the second half of November. Birmex is expected to produce up to 4.5 million doses per month after receiving the necessary authorization from Mexico’s drug regulator, according to the Russian news agency Tass. The vaccine will be used both domestically and shipped to other countries in Central America and the Caribbean.
According to Russian news reports, Sputnik V has been authorized for use in 70 countries, with a total population of about four billion people.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Health has confirmed the approval of trials of a nasal spray form of the Sputnik V vaccine. The trials, involving 500 volunteers, will end on December 31, the agency said.