COVID-19 Real Death Toll 61 Percent Higher Than Official Figures

Vaccination campaigns are a priority for global healthcare systems, despite the urgency, Mexico continues to tackle many challenges in regards to changes in the sector. On this week’s roundup, find out about these national challenges and the global events surrounding COVID-19 vaccination. 

NATIONAL

-The Ministry of Health announced a change in the vaccination strategy against COVID-19 so that the Megalopolis which constitutes CDMX, State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Morelos and Querétaro has priority. This is because the population density of these states makes them have a greater probability for outbreaks. So far, Mexico has applied vaccinated close to 6,852, 596 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

-The real number of deaths in Mexico from the COVID-19 pandemic is more than 322,000, according to new data published by the Ministry of Health, which takes into account excess mortality and death certificates. This figure is 61 percent higher than the official government figures, which have been obtained using diagnostic tests.

-Mexico’s hospital capacity has increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. “In 2020, we saw a 6.4 percent increase in multiple-use beds and an 8.1 percent increase in short-stay beds,” said Guillaume Copart, Managing Director of Global Health Intelligence to MBN. Read this article to learn more bout Mexico’s hospital reality on a pre- and post-pandemic scenario.

-For these week’s expert contributor piece, Fernando Becerril talks us through the 2021 challenges for the Mexican healthcare sector. Becerril exposes issues like the regulated use of medical cannabis, UNOPS medicine and medical supply tenders, the new Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property and its impact for the innovative industry and regulatory issues for innovative medical devices.

INTERNATIONAL

-Pfizer-BioNTech reported that their COVID-19 vaccine is 100 percent effective in adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 at preventing the disease, based on data from their phase 3 clinical trial.

-This coalition also announced its capacity increase for the manufacturing of the COVID-19 vaccine. They expect to manufacture 2,500 million doses, which represents an increase of about a quarter from their previous estimate.

-After registering and successfully applying three human vaccines for COVID-19, Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac, Russia has announced the registration of an animal vaccine against the virus. The development was awarded to the country’s agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor and it is named Carnivac-Cov.

-In Peru, vaccine volunteers for the Sinopharm vaccine are accusing the government for not administering the second dose if the vaccine, which would have completed their immunity to COVID-19.

-Germany is stopping COVID-19 vaccination of the AstraZeneca/Oxford dose for people age 60 and younger. German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed up this decision by saying they have had a handful of new cases of severe blood clots emerged on recipients younger than 60. AstraZeneca has said the number of positive responses and immunity generated from the vaccine outstrip the number of anomalies from their vaccine.