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MEXICO CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The packaging and
distribution of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in Mexico
had been held up due to a complex certification process that led
to major changes at a factory, Mexico's foreign minister said on
Tuesday.
Mexico had not finished producing doses of the vaccine from
the shipments of active ingredient that already arrived to the
country because its health regulator had to first inspect a
local lab and certify that the batches were pure and without
defects, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
He said COFEPRIS, the regulator, had made 185 "observations"
during a visit to local manufacturer Laboratorios Liomont, which
previously made flu jabs and is expected to start shipping the
doses by early April.
"They almost had to make another factory," Ebrard, speaking
at a regular government news conference, said about Liomont.
"You are talking about health, life ... so you do have to be
very strict in any medicine, with a vaccine more, and even more
when the vaccine is so recent."
In partnership with the Mexican and Argentinean governments,
AstraZeneca plans to produce millions of doses of the vaccine,
developed with Oxford University, for distribution throughout
the region. The plan has significant funding from the foundation
of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
Liomont and a spokesperson for Mexico's health ministry did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mexico has received at least two shipments of the vaccine's
active ingredient, which were to be packaged locally for about
seven million doses that are not yet ready, according to
government data.
Looking to speed up its vaccine campaign, which is now
focused on older adults, Mexico also imported on Sunday the
first 870,000 doses of a planned two million doses of
AstraZeneca's vaccine from India.
Shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
also restarted after global delays, with a flight landing on
Tuesday in Monterrey and another due later in capital Mexico
City. The government said Tuesday's shipments would provide
about 494,000 doses.
Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez would visit
Liomont's plant during an upcoming trip to Mexico, Ebrard said.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, additional reporting by Adriana
Barrera, writing by Cassandra Garrison; editing by David Evans)
