First batch of Pfizer vaccine arrives in Latin America

Mexico received the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 on Wednesday, becoming the first Latin American country to receive vaccine doses approved for distribution.

The plane with the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech drug, a test batch whose number was not specified, landed in the morning at the Mexico City airport.

Officials met the shipment, desribing it as a significant advance to curb the pandemic.

"Today is the beginning of the end of that pandemic," said Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard.

Medical personnel and the elderly will be the first to be vaccinated in the coming weeks, starting Thursday, in a public and free operation led by the army.

A total of 1.4 million doses are expected to arrive by the end of January.

Mexico has more than 1.3 million confirmed infected and almost 120,000 deaths, although experts and authorities recognize that the real figures are much higher.