Mexico has received its first shipment of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus.
Some 200,000 doses arrived at the Mexico City international airport on Monday night aboard a British Airways flight from Moscow. The authorities plan to use them to begin immunizing the elderly in the most marginal neighborhoods of the capital starting Wednesday. The Mexican Foreign Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, confirmed the arrival of the vaccines through Twitter.
Mexico had received a first shipment of the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech in mid-December, but turned to Sputnik V in mid-January when other shipments were delayed. The Russian also arrived later than originally planned. The president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, spoke with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in late January.
In early February, Mexican regulators approved the emergency use of the Sputnik V vaccine and the government signed a contract to receive 400,000 doses in February. At the moment it is not clear when the next shipment will arrive.