It appears the Covid pandemic psychosis is now well and truly behind us.
It’s been three years since the world mostly shut down due to the rapid spread of a previously unknown virus that contributed to the premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
The development of the first Covid vaccines took more than a year and, in most countries, citizens did not have to pay for them, although their purchase and distribution was tightly controlled by national governments. Such was the case in Mexico, where the private sector was not permitted to sell the vaccines.
That model has now changed, and this week Mexico’s health regulator, the Comisión para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (Cofepris), gave the green light for authorized drugstores to sell and apply Covid vaccines.
In the first stage of commercialization, the latest Pfizer vaccine became available in four nationwide drugstore chains as of December 20: Farmacias del Ahorro, Farmacias Benavides, Farmacias San Pablo and Farmacias Guadalajara. The cost of the vaccine will be around 850 pesos. Depending on the branch, appointments for shots may or may not be necessary. However, not all the branches of these chains will be offering the vaccines.
Mexico’s federal government will continue its own program of offering the Russian Sputnik V and Cuban Abdalá vaccines free of charge to the elderly, pregnant women and people with comorbilities. These vaccines are still not approved by the World Health Organization, and their efficacy on the latest coronavirus strains may be limited.