Mexico’s Hold on the Pandemic

COVID-19 cases in Mexico continue to rise, being Mexico City the most affected part of the country. During her last report, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mayor of Mexico City, advised people in the city to remain home and not celebrate the holidays this year, as reported by Informador. The mayor believes that Mexico City is in a very vulnerable state due to the numerous cases of COVID-19 and the high levels of saturation in hospitals registered in the last few weeks. “I cannot stop mentioning that we are at a very critical point of high contagion in the city and only through citizen participation we will get out of this,” Sheinbaum said in her speech, reported Informador. Mexico City has the most cases and deaths out of any state in the country, totaling over 230,000 cases and over 14,000 deaths, according to the New York Times. The COVID-19 death toll in the city represents over 15 percent of the country’s total.

But the problem is not limited to Mexico City. “The rhythm at which COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing in Mexico is alarming,” said Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), to the UN press last week. “I believe this shows Mexico is in a very bad state. When both indicators – deaths and cases – are rising, there is a serious problem. We would like to ask Mexico to be very serious,” he continued.

Last week, MBN reported that the Mexican government announced a development concerning the COVID-19 vaccine. According to Reuters, the Mexican government is hoping that 250,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine will be distributed by the end of December. The vaccine, as reported by Reuters, has been approved in the UK and, as Forbes Mexico highlighted, it is expecting approval in the US. In Mexico, the vaccine is being reviewed by COFEPRIS. “The beginning of the end of the pandemic is starting. With the arrival of the vaccine, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are, every day, closer to being able to see it,” Martha Delgado, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, told Reuters.

Pfizer’s vaccine requires extremely low temperatures to be stored and transported, as MBN explained in an article concerning the vaccine’s cold chain. MBN previously reported on the logistics challenge Pfizer’s vaccine may represent, but Delgado told Reuters that the pharmaceutical will deliver the doses at certain vaccination points the authorities determine, suggesting there may be solutions to address this challenge. “The cold supply chain that this vaccine requires will be implemented by the company until the delivery point,” she told Reuters. She remains positive, saying that Pfizer can make deliveries of the vaccine every five days.