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(Updates with background on Russian vaccine production)
MEXICO CITY, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Mexican health authorities
will quickly make a decision on whether to authorize Russia's
Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine after getting access to data on it,
Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Tuesday.
Lopez-Gatell said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had
instructed authorities to "proceed speedily" with the process.
"The file has been under review since the weekend by (health
regulator) COFEPRIS and very soon there will be a decision
regarding the authorization for emergency use, as occurred with
the other two vaccines," he said at a regular government news
conference.
Lopez-Gatell, Mexico's coronavirus czar, said on Monday
evening that Mexico was considering acquiring 24 million doses
of Sputnik V.
Mexico has already authorized the vaccines developed by
Pfizer Inc with BioNTech SE and AstraZeneca
Plc.
Lopez-Gatell said he met with Russian officials to discuss
the vaccine during a trip last week to Argentina, whose
government has started rolling out Sputnik V to health workers.
Mexican officials had access to "the entire scientific and
technical file" on the Russian vaccine while in Argentina,
including results of its Phase III clinical trials. Previously,
Mexico had difficulty getting information about Sputnik V,
prompting safety concerns, Lopez-Gatell added.
"It's a vaccine that has a capacity and efficacy similar to
those of the other vaccines that have been authorized," he said.
While the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which has
funded Sputnik V, has deals with multiple countries to supply
millions of doses, only about 1.5 million doses of the vaccine
have rolled out domestically.
The RDIF has said it plans to rely on manufacturing partners
in China, India, South Korea and elsewhere to fulfill its major
international supply deals.
A shipment of almost 440,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine
arrived in Mexico on Tuesday, the largest consignment yet to
reach the country and a key step toward the government’s goal of
concluding the vaccination of health workers this month.
Mexico could in February begin receiving batches of a
vaccine made by Chinese company CanSino Biologics, Lopez-Gatell
said.
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Raul Cortes; additional reporting
by Polina Inanova in Moscow; writing by Cassandra Garrison;
Editing by Andrew Heavens, Alex Richardson and Giles Elgood)
