Mexico gambles big on China’s coronavirus vaccines
- The government has signed agreements for a total of at least 36 million doses from Chinese firms, dwarfing the 5 million doses acquired from other sources
- The Mexican foreign relations secretary’s office has repeatedly refused to answer about the efficacy of the Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino shots
Mexico announced a huge bet on Covid-19 vaccines from China on Tuesday, without making public any information about their efficacy.
Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the Mexican government has signed agreements for 12 million doses of the as-yet-unapproved Sinopharm vaccine and increased to a total of 20 million doses its contracts for the Coronavac dose made by China’s Sinovac.
The total of 32 million doses, plus at least 4 million doses of the CanSino shot, would dwarf the estimated 5 million vaccine doses Mexico has acquired from other sources.
However, Ebrard’s office has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the efficacy of the Chinese shots.
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China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns
Sinopharm has claimed its vaccine was 79 per cent effective based on interim data from clinical trials, but like other Chinese firms, it has not publicly released its late-stage clinical trial data.