Latin America received its first shipment of formally approved COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday, what the Mexican Secretary of State called the arrival “the beginning of the end of that pandemic.”
The vaccine was delivered by a DHL flight at Mexico City International Airport. Crews began unloading batches of the same Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine administered to Americans last week, The Associated Press reported.
Officials have not disclosed how many batches were part of the relatively small shipment, which is expected to be used to test vaccine logistics procedures once Mexico and other Latin American countries begin to receive larger quantities.
Health workers in Mexico City and in the northern city of Saltillo will begin receiving vaccines on Thursday.
Mexico expects to receive 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine by the end of January.
Argentina announced on Wednesday the approval of two additional vaccines for forthcoming use, one from Russia and another that does not have a distribution agreement.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has been approved for emergency use and is expected to arrive in Argentina in a batch of 300,000 doses, although the vaccine is considered “a safe and effective therapeutic tool.”
The Sputnik V vaccine has received some criticism in Russia for its hasty approval process.
Pfizer’s vaccine has also been approved by health officials in Argentina, although the government has not yet struck a deal to begin obtaining batches.
In addition, other Latin American countries will receive shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine this week as Brazil has started receiving shipments from other manufacturers.