According to Reuters, Pfizer began exporting COVID-19 vaccines to Mexico last week which were made at its US plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The news outlet reported that last week’s shipment marked the first time that Pfizer had delivered the U.S. following the Trump administration’s ban on the export of vaccines; the facilities have distributed doses abroad.
Pfizer has shipped more than 10 million doses to Mexico so far, including 2 million last week, and has become Mexico’s largest COVID-19 vaccine supplier. So far, Pfizer and BioNTech have supplied other countries with doses from the main European production plant in Belgium.
Pfizer U.S. Will continue to fulfill its commitment to supply the vaccine, Reuters reported, and deliver its shots to other countries. And will use additional capacity in Belgian facilities. The company expects to produce up to 2.5 billion doses in 2021 and has agreements to supply more than 1 billion to governments around the world.
Last week, Pfizer also exported U.S.-made doses to Canada, according to Reuters, with 2 million doses expected each week in May and 2.4 million doses each week in June. The news agency reported that the previous shipment came from a Belgian plant. The company has an agreement to award 76 million doses to Canada.
Earlier last week, the Biden administration announced that the US would send 60 million doses of its unused AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to other countries. According to Reuters, on Friday Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said it was “probable” that the US would soon send about 5 million doses to Mexico.
The news outlet reported that Mexico faced delays in vaccine production at its own AstraZeneca plant, which was expected to play a key role in providing the shots. Mexico has also received a lower Sputnik V dose from Russia.
Source: Medscape, Reuters
