Mexico received its first batch of Russia’s COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine, with 200 thousand doses arriving late Monday night.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin after accepting the shipment at Mexico International Airport, alongside the Russian ambassador to Mexico, Viktor Koronelli, who praised the partnership between the two countries.
Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador struck a deal with the Russian leader a few weeks ago to purchase 24 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine to immunize 12 million people.
Mexico joins other Latin American countries, including Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela, in approving the use of the Russian vaccine.
Mexico is also expecting deliveries of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. Authorities are hoping the vaccine can help slow the spread of COVID-19, which has tallied more than 2,043,000 infections and 180,536 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.
