MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The United Nations-backed COVAX vaccine program will send 10 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 shots for children to Mexico by the end of September, a senior Mexican official announced Tuesday.
The confirmed dates for the shots’ delivery comes a week after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would complain to the United Nations about the delayed shipment of vaccines the government had requested.
Of the 10 million doses en route, 8.86 million will be used to complete the two-dose regime for children who have already received one dose, and another 1.14 million doses will provide a complete regimen for 571,200 children, Mexico’s coronavirus czar Hugo Lopez-Gatell said at a regular news conference.
The doses will arrive in three shipments, with the first batch arriving between Sept. 12-16, the second Sept. 18-23, and the third Sept. 26-30, Lopez-Gatell said.
Last week, Lopez Obrador said Mexico was owed $75 million after it received less than half the 52 million vaccine doses it was allocated under the COVAX program.
The declaration prompted confirmation from The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which backs COVAX along with the World Health Organization, that an offer to ship pediatric vaccines to Mexico was accepted and that the doses were ready to be shipped.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
