Mexico approves Sinovac and CanSino vaccines

Mexican regulatory authorities Wednesday granted emergency approval to coronavirus vaccines developed by Chinese companies CanSino and Sinovac, Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said. The first shipment of two million CanSino doses is scheduled to arrive in Mexico on Thursday, to be bottled in a local plant for distribution around the country.

Mexico will also receive a first batch of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, López-Gatell said. Authorities consider the CanSino vaccine as crucial for the national program, as it only requires one dose and does not require storage at sub-zero temperatures.

These shots will be added to those of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the Russian vaccine Sputnik V as those approved by Mexican health authorities for general use. Mexico has only vaccinated some 84,500 people so far, all health workers, a figure that is still a small percentage in a country of 126 million people and where COVID-19 has left more than 169,000 deaths and 1.9 million cases.