This Tuesday, May 25, the presidents of Argentina and Mexico, Alberto Fernández and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, formally began the distribution of AstraZeneca vaccines 100 percent manufactured in both Latin American countries.
The two leaders indicated that this represents great progress in the fight against COVID-19 in the region, as it will help to achieve greater independence from foreign laboratories.
"We are becoming more independent, Mexico, Argentina and Latin America, because of that agreement we made; what it will allow is for Mexicans and Argentinians to have united their efforts, their joint work, to have vaccines for Mexicans and Argentinians, but also for all our Latin American brothers and sisters," Fernández said in a video call during López Obrador's (AMLO) morning press conference.
Meanwhile, AMLO has already announced the first shipment of 800,000 doses to Argentina and also referred to this milestone in the fight against the coronavirus.
"This agreement to jointly produce the AstraZeneca vaccine is already beginning to bear fruit. What is being announced here is that vaccines will now be produced in the plant in Mexico, which will allow Mexico to have vaccines, for Argentina to have sufficient vaccines, and also for other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean," López Obrador said.
Mexico will also begin distributing 800,000 doses of this "criollo" AstraZeneca, and deliveries to other Latin American countries will begin later.
The Argentine laboratory mAbxience, part of the Insud group, manufactured the active substance, and the Mexican laboratory Liomont completed the packaging process. The foundation of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim financed the high production costs.
