COVID-19 vaccines should soon be available for sale in Mexican pharmacies — but getting a shot probably won’t come cheap.
Health regulator Cofepris announced Thursday that it had authorized the “health registration” of Moderna (Spikevax monovalent XBB 1.5) and Pfizer (Comirnaty Omicron XBB 1.5) vaccines, which it found “complied with requirements of quality, safety and effectiveness.”
As a result, the two vaccines can now be sold in Mexico.
However, “the supply of these vaccines must be under medical supervision and mustn’t be applied indiscriminately as they can represent risks to health,” Cofepris said.
The authorization of the sale of the two vaccines comes almost three years after the first shots were administered in Mexico.
Rafael Gual, general director of the National Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry, said in an interview that laboratories in Mexico will be able to import Moderna and Pfizer vaccines once the “definitive health registration” has been issued and they have obtained the appropriate importation permits.
“If everything goes well” the vaccines could start coming into the country in January or February, he said.
Only pharmacies that have permits to sell controlled medications will be able to stock the vaccines, Gual said.
Antonio Pascual, president of the National Association of Pharmacies, said that only 35% of pharmacies in Mexico will be able to sell COVID-19 vaccines.
“You have to have authorization for vaccines, trained personnel and infrastructure,” he said.
“There has to be a special cold chain, because [with] vaccines it’s not just about putting them in the fridge,” Pascual said.
Pfizer, a United States company, and its German partner BioNTech set the list price for their COVID-19 vaccine at US $120 per dose in September. Moderna, also a U.S. company, set the list price for its vaccine at $129 per dose.
Deputy Health Minister Ruy López Riadura said in October that a COVID-19 shot could cost up to 5,000 pesos, or almost US $290 at the current exchange rate, in Mexico.
However, TV Azteca reported that it is estimated that the cost of a shot will be similar to other countries, including the U.S., meaning that doses could retail for just over 2,000 pesos.
With reports from El Financiero
So the shots will be available only for the upper middle class and rich? Good going Mexico, Equality and Fraternity!Oh, and these shots are free in the USA?
Why would anyone even want them this late in the game? They have time and again been proven neither safe nor effective — and long term negative consequences abound.
Shame on AMLO and his advisors! And on the ordinarily excellent MCN staff.
Utter and complete BS. C19 mRNA vaccines have been proven to be extremely safe and extremely effective at preventing severe disease and death. But if you don’t want one, great. Let someone smarter live longer.
You are 100% wrong.
Sorry Mark. This was a reply to Carole, not you.
You are wrong. They are effective against all of the current strains of COVID, including the strain fast becoming dominant in the US. COVID remains a significant threat to both older and very young people, and special precautions should continue to be taken.
Mexico is offering free COVID vaccines from China and Cuba. USA is not longer providing free COVID vaccination
Unfortunately, those vaccines aren’t very effective against evolved C19, but better than nothing.
Why would anyone want a vaccine now knowing what we know?!
I totally agree. They are toxic! Good job AMLO! Let the ppl who don’t know what’s going pay for their own poison shots.
I’m gonna guess some people at the approval level have somehow been enriched to approve medical proceedures that have historically been neither safe nor effective.
Utter and complete BS. C19 mRNA vaccines have been proven to be extremely safe and extremely effective at preventing severe disease and death. But if you don’t want one, great. Let someone smarter live longer.
The sooner you get another shot, the sooner you will realize you were wrong
I was fishing near the coast of Cedros Island a couple months ago when one of our party suddenly collapsed and died while playing in a large dorado. He was recently vaxxed but otherwise appeared completely healthy.
And this proves what?
Vaccines available in Mexican pharmacies – what? Does that mean that the regular Mexican people will have to pay for their families and themselves to be vaccinated if they already haven’t been? It’s simply ridiculous and sounds like a misinformation. Does anyone really think the people can afford that and even if they could, would they want to take a chance at this late stage? It’s insulting to the Mexicans and I hate it!
Damn, don’t want the vaccine? Don’t get it. Hopefully, the shot will become available thru IMSS and affordable. The shot is no longer free in the US and is only covered thru insurance, if you have insurance.
Are you from planet Pfizer Marc O’Neill, or planet Ignorant?