Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulated the creators of the Patria (Homeland) vaccine against Covid-19, the newspaper La Jornada published on Monday.

The president’s congratulations refer to the researchers from the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology who participated in the research for the development of the vaccine, which, if authorized by the regulatory agency, might be administered in the country as a booster.

López Obrador also acknowledged the favorable opinion on the new vaccine issued by the New Molecules Committee of the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks, as part of the process initiated by the Avimex laboratory to get the emergency sanitary registration.

“Patria, the new Mexican vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, is ready now,” the president stressed in a message posted on his X account and reproduced by La Jornada.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Health confirmed in a press release on Sunday that they had received the first batch of 2.8 million doses of Cuban-made Covid-19 Abdala vaccines in 2024.

Mexico Receives the first 2.8 million Cuban Abdala Vaccines

The press release says that the shipment arrived on Friday to reinforce the 2023-2024 National Winter Vaccination Campaign.

A Mexican Air Force Hercules aircraft from Havana landed at the Military Air Base No. 1, in Santa Lucia, in the state of Mexico.

On December 29, 2021, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS) authorized the emergency use of the Abdala vaccine, with its distinctive denomination: recombinant protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus receptor binding domain, whose development was in charge of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

The Secretariat pointed out that this Abdala shipment is the first that Mexico obtains in 2024. The previous shipments in two flights with 2.8 million doses of the vaccine arrived in October 2023.

The institution added that personnel from the Biological and Reactive Labs of Mexico (BIRMEX), the National Center for Health at Childhood and Adolescence (CENSIA) and COFEPRIS, as well as the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) are participating in the arrival, transfer and security of the vaccines, which are administered to people in the target groups, as part of the National Vaccination Campaign against seasonal influenza and Covid-19 for the 2023-2024 winter season, which began on October 16, 2023, and and will end on March 31, 2024.

Edited by Liubis Balart