- Title: Mexican soldiers guard first batch of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines
- Date: 23rd December 2020
- Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (DECEMBER 23, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MILITARY VEHICLE ESCORTING DELIVERY VAN TRANSPORTING PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE
- Embargoed: 6th January 2021 22:20
- Keywords: Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Soldiers coronavirus health pandemic
- Location: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- City: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Health/Medicine,South America / Central America
- Reuters ID: LVA003DA878SN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Mexico's Armed Forces escorted the first batch of coronavirus vaccines that arrived on Wednesday (December 23) in Mexico City from Brussels.
Mexican soldiers and police officers accompanied the delivery carrying 3,000 doses of vaccine.
Mexico plans to begin inoculating health workers against COVID-19 on Thursday (December 24) with the arrival of the first vaccines, as the government battles a sharp surge in infections that has pushed hospitals to their limits.
Vaccinations will begin at hospitals in Mexico City and the northern city of Saltillo, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday before the first Pfizer vaccines were flown into the capital.
The next shipment will contain 50,000 doses, with Mexico slated to receive 1.4 million units of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine by Jan. 31, the foreign ministry said.
Lopez Obrador said he wanted the vaccine to be used in additional areas as officials seek to reach workers at nearly 1,000 hospitals treating coronavirus patients nationwide. Senior citizens and people with chronic illnesses would be next.
Pfizer's is the first COVID-19 vaccine to reach Mexico, which has also signed deals for vaccines from other firms.
(Production: Gustavo Graf, Rodolfo Pena Roja, Liamar Ramos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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