Mexico will launch a free nationwide Covid-19 vaccine booster campaign in October, although the only shots on offer are likely to be Cuba’s Abdala and Russia’s Sputnik brands.
Neither of the two vaccines can guarantee protection against new strains of the virus that are making many people sick in Europe and North America. Also, Mexican citizens have been wary of getting these vaccines, which have yet to be approved by the WHO, although clinical trials in both countries attest to their efficacy and safety.
The voluntary booster campaign is expected to run in tandem with the national influenza vaccine program, scheduled to start mid-October. It will focus on priority groups comprising all people aged 60 and over, pregnant women, mothers with babies under one-year-old, people of any age with underlying health conditions, and all health sector personnel.
Mexican Health Minister Jorge Alcocer announced the campaign on September 12, noting that the federal government has 5,386,200 doses of Abdala vaccine warehoused and ready for distribution. He said four million doses of Sputnik vaccine will arrive during October and November, and that ten million additional doses will be needed to cover all the priority groups requiring immunization.
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