Mexico's COVID-19 vaccination drive to begin by end of December

Hugo Lopez-Gatell

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is expected to begin before the end of the month, with priority given to healthcare professionals and the elderly, the government said on Tuesday.

Vaccination should begin "in the last days of the third week of December" and last until February 2021, starting in the capital Mexico City, home to some 20 million residents, and northern Coahuila state, according to Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell.

Doctors and nurses on the frontlines of the fight against the virus will be the first to receive the vaccine, along with vulnerable people, notably the elderly, he said at a press conference.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, about 250,000 doses of vaccine will arrive in Mexico this month.

Mexico reported 1,182,249 cases of COVID-19 and 110,074 deaths from the disease as of Monday.