The latest from Mexico’s fight against COVID-19, including news of vaccine tourism into the US, how China’s CanSino is filling the gaps left by Western companies, and AMLO’s call for UN intervention on vaccine rollout.
The Mexican Elites Who Are Traveling to the U.S. to Get Vaccinated (Slate)
https://slate.com/technology/2021/02/covid-19-vaccine-tourism-mexico-elites.html
Beginning in February, Jose Andres Marroquin, a 56-year-old pilot from Monterrey, in northern Mexico, began receiving up to 50 anxious calls a day from people asking if he could fly them to Texas on a private jet. These were not his usual clients visiting properties or businesses in the U.S.—they were people desperately seeking a ride to Texas for a precious COVID-19 vaccine…
‘Our gratitude always’: From China’s CanSino, Mexico welcomes one of its biggest vaccine shipments yet (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mexico-vaccine-idUSKBN2AB2LP
Mexico received one of its biggest COVID-19 vaccine shipments yet, in the form of the active ingredient for 2 million doses of China’s CanSino shot, a relief for the Latin American country after slow delivery on orders from Western companies.
Mexican President Calls for UN Intervention on Global Vaccine Rollout (VOA)
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on the United Nations on Tuesday to guarantee equitable access to coronavirus vaccines. Speaking at a news conference alongside Argentine President Alberto Fernández, Lopez Obrador called the current state of vaccine distribution “totally unfair.”
On trial, an antiviral treatment against COVID (Excelsior)
https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/a-prueba-tratamiento-de-antivirales-contra-covid/1433949
A treatment that uses the drugs Nitazoxanide and Favipiravir is in phase two of its development in Mexico. Researcher Tania Smith Márquez, who is working on this study, pointed out that this procedure helps lower the viral load of patients and, therefore, mitigates infections.
PiSA Farmacéutica and the ‘Other Corruption’ (El Heraldo (in Spanish))
https://heraldodemexico.com.mx/opinion/2021/2/18/farmaceutica-pisa-la-otra-corrupcion-259193.html
If the government does not want PISA to sell drugs, it has an obligation to find another supplier and ensure that no shortages occur.
