First Batch of Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine Arrives in Mexico

By Staff, Agencies

Mexico, the first North American country to approve Russia's Sputnik V vaccine under the emergency use authorization procedure, received the first delivery of the jabs on Tuesday.

Some 200,000 doses were delivered as part of the first batch. Russia is set to send 24 million jabs to get 12 million Mexicans inoculated.

A video of a plane loaded with the inoculations was shared by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard C. on Twitter.

The vaccination with Sputnik V in Mexico is set to start on 24 February.

The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risk of Mexico [COFEPRIS] approved the Russian jab for emergency use without additional clinical trials in the country on 3 February.

So far, a total of 30 countries have approved Sputnik V for use, making it among the top three most popular vaccines globally.

According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund [RDIF], Sputnik V had become "one of the world's top three coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators".

A recent peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet journal stated that Sputnik V, which was developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology, showed 91.6 percent efficacy, based on Phase 3 clinical trial interim data. The vaccine, which is built on a human adenoviral vector platform, was registered by the Russian government on 11 August.