COVID-19 vaccine to be universal and free in Mexico

A potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University will be produced in Mexico if its advanced trials are successful and it receives regulatory approval, the Mexican government said Thursday.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which also provides for production in Argentina, should result in a vaccine that the government would provide free, starting in the first quarter of 2021.

Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard said the results of phase III trials would be presented for regulatory approval sometime in November.

Production of the vaccine in Mexico and Argentina would allow for distribution throughout Latin America, except for Brazil, which has already reached its own agreement with the drug maker.

The Slim Foundation, founded by Mexican buisiness magnate Carlos Slim, is facilitating the production project .

"All Mexicans are going to have access to the vaccine," López Obrador said.

Mexico already has agreements with four vaccine projects to carry out Phase III trials in the country, but this is the first production agreement.