Mexico has approved the Russian vaccine; Sputnik V. This occurred on Tuesday just after the publication of the results of a study. The study carried out on the vaccine showed that it was 91% effective.
Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said that the health ministry signed a contract for 400,000 doses. The vaccines are billed to arrive this month. The figure represents a small fraction of Mexico’s total population, which stands at about 126 million people.
Filled
Mexico has been hit so hard by the pandemic that hospital beds were filled up to 87% capacity.
On occasion, ambulance drivers had to wait for hours to find an open bed for patients. The total number of deaths reported by Mexico due to the virus is 159,000. However, experts believe the figure is totally underrepresented.
“Because the hospitals are saturated, we have to wait for three or four hours before they can assign us a hospital. Then we have to find our way there,” said ambulance crew chief Eduardo Vigueras.
Eduardo Vigueras noted that patients are sometimes sent to the available beds at hospitals far away from Iztapalapa. He said that some relatives got aggressive with paramedics when their loved ones could not be cared for in good time.
According to a paramedic team member, many people opted to keep their relatives at home, knowing that the hospital system was already saturated. Therefore the chances that their loved ones would come back alive was very slim. So they preferred to have them around for the last couple of hours or days.
Desperate for Supply
Desperation was obvious when the Mexican government launched a new website for Citizens over 60 years to register for an appointment to get vaccinated. They invited people to register, whereas the vaccines were yet to arrive.
So many people connected to the website that the registration portal could not handle the traffic. The Russian vaccine would be the 3rd to be approved in Mexico. Earlier in December, the regulatory agency approved the Pfizer vaccine. Afterward, in early January, they approved the AstraZeneca vaccine. Mexico had to resort to the Russian vaccine as a last resort since they were logistic delays in getting the others.
More than 12 countries have already approved the Russian vaccine for use. This includes Argentina and Bolivia. Mexico had earlier gotten access to statistics from tests carried out by Argentina. They were confident to administer Sputnik V based on positive results from Argentina.
Russian vaccine: Bilateral Relations
A ministry official spoke concerning the Sputnik V vaccine, which Mexico intended to use to combat Covid-19. That both Obrador and Putin discussed bilateral relations and the Russian vaccine. According to Lopez Obrador, Mexico requires 12 million doses of the vaccine. They intend to administer at least 7.4 million doses by the end of March as part of efforts to secure as many vaccines as possible.
Russian Head of State, Vladimir Putin pledged that Russia would supply Mexico with 22 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine within the next two months. This pledge marks a sharp increase from the previous target of 7.4 million vaccine doses. Through the vaccine supply, Russia has gained goodwill in Latin America after other pharmaceutical companies could not meet the demand for vaccines.
Lopez Obrador had the call with the Russian Head of State despite himself battling the virus. He tweeted on his Twitter handle that he had invited Putin to visit Mexico. They also discussed other matters, including training for Mexican medical specialists in Russia.
Not Enough Doctors
Mexico raised the alarm over the lack of doctors to cope with its high rate of virus infection. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it has one of the lowest medical personnel ratios to population.
In Mexico, it’s not just the virus that is claiming lives. The health system has not helped matters either. The health system has been through a long period of neglect. Therefore the pandemic could not have come at a worse time for Mexico.
Nurses and doctors feel the most pain because they see people dying needlessly. For instance, a man died from septic shock when no one monitored his vital signs. Another person died when an inexperienced nurse unplugged his ventilator. These incidents are preventable.
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