4 out of 5 Mexicans who bought a flu shot this yr turned down Cuban and Russian COVID-19 vaccines

MEXICO CITY (AP) — 4 out of 5 folks in Mexico who bought influenza pictures to this point this yr turned down the federal government’s advice that they get Russian or Cuban COVID-19 boosters on the similar time, officers stated Tuesday.

Assistant Well being Secretary Ruy López Ridaura attributed the excessive refusal price to folks being reluctant to get two vaccines on the similar time.

“Individuals have a sure reluctance to get simultaneous vaccinations,” López Ridaura stated.

However the inhabitants eligible for flu and COVID-19 pictures — folks over 60 and other people with underlying well being issues — are thought-about high-risk, and Mexicans in these teams had extraordinarily excessive take-up charges for Covid vaccines in 2021 and 2022, based on the Well being Division.

Some folks seem to easily mistrust the Russian Sputnik and Cuban Abdala vaccines, each designed in 2020 for variants prevalent on the time.

“It’s an outdated antigen, it is as in the event that they have been going to provide me an influenza vaccine from 2020,” stated Andreu Comas, a professor of drugs on the Autonomous College of San Luis Potosi. “There are not any research concerning the effectiveness of each of those vaccines towards the (present) variants.”

Mexico has purchased tens of millions of doses of the Russian and Cuban vaccines. The unique plan was to manage round 20 million pictures, however solely about 1.9 million folks, or 9.5% of these eligible, have agreed to take them for the reason that vaccination marketing campaign began in mid-October.

In distinction, 10 million folks bought the influenza shot in the identical interval.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been a giant supporter of Cuba, hiring Cuban docs, shopping for vaccines and development supplies from Cuba and supplying oil to the island.

In the meantime, Mexico has held up approval for Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 boosters, each of which have been designed to work towards the COVID variants at the moment circulating. Whereas these pictures have been authorized to be used in the US since September, they might not be obtainable for Mexicans till 2024.

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Comply with AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america