Mexico City, Mexico — The Government of Mexico says that Pfizer will resume its shipments of Covid-19 vaccines in mid-February. The announcement was made after the Belgium-based pharmaceutical company suspended distribution for several weeks while it underwent factory renovations.
“Pfizer confirmed to us, in a letter addressed to the president, that the vaccines will arrive soon, that 491,400 will arrive on February 15,” reported Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Health.
López-Gatell attributed the delay in supply to the renovation of the Pfizer plant in Belgium.
“There are new regulations established on January 29 in the European Union that reduce Pfizer’s room for maneuver,” he said from the National Palace.
According to Bloomberg, the renovations will help boost capacity. “As part of the normal productivity improvements to increase capacity, we must make modifications to the process and facility that will require additional regulatory approvals,” a Pfizer spokeswoman said in a statement.
Mexico has pre-purchase agreements for 34.4 million vaccine doses from Pfizer. It was one of the first countries to start applying Pfizer and BioNTech in December, but to date, has only received 766,350 doses, which has stalled efforts to immunize all frontline medical personnel in January.