Mexico to vaccinate its population by October: President

MEXICO

All Mexicans will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by October, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday.

In his daily press conference at the National Palace, Lopez Obrador said that before winter, all Mexicans would be fully inoculated, pledging to reinforce vaccination efforts to achieve the time frame.

"More brigades are being formed, and more vaccination centers will be installed in order to fulfill this purpose of finishing all vaccination in October so that before winter arrives, all Mexicans are protected," said the president.

According to the president, all school staff will be vaccinated by the end of May. All adults of 50 to 59 years of age and pregnant women are expected to be vaccinated by June with the first dose.

Lopez Obrador shared that adults from 40 to 49 years of age will start their vaccination round starting in July.

As of May 17, more than 15,7 million people have been vaccinated, which constitutes around 19% of the country's population eligible for the vaccine. The country is experiencing a boost in applying the vaccine after May 10, when it reported 58,752 inoculations, the lowest in two months.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez Gatell, Mexico will receive 5 million vaccines this week, the largest doses ever received.

Mexico has received over 30 million vaccines so far, with this figure expected to double in the upcoming six weeks. According to Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico is expected to receive over 68 million doses by July 4.

"That means, roughly, that we will have a little more than a million doses per day from this point forward, not counting what can be achieved with the United States and other initiatives that are underway."

According to Lopez Gatell, Mexico is currently in its 18th week with a downwards tendency in the number of infections, hospitalizations, hospital occupancy, and deaths. As reported by the Deputy, all indicators show that the following two weeks will show this same reduction pattern.

So far, Mexico has an estimated 2,568,783 cases and 237,750 deaths.