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Pfizer began last week exporting COVID-19 vaccines to Mexico that were manufactured at its U.S. plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, according to and Reuters.
Last week’s shipment marks the first time Pfizer delivers doses overseas from U.S. facilities after the Trump administration’s restriction on dose exports expired in late March, he said. inform the media.
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. Until now, Pfizer and BioNTech supplied to other countries doses from the main European production plant in Belgium.
Pfizer will continue to meet its commitment to supply vaccines to the U.S., Reuters reported, and will use additional capacity at its U.S. facilities and in Belgium to deliver shots to other countries. The company expects to produce up to 2.5 billion doses by 2021 and has agreements to supply more than 1 billion to governments around the world.
According to Pfizer, last week it also exported US-made doses to Canada and Reuters, with 2 million doses scheduled each week in May and 2.4 million doses scheduled each week in June. Previous shipments came from the Belgium plant, the media reported. The company has an agreement with Canada to administer up to 76 million doses.
Earlier last week, the Biden administration announced that the U.S. would ship up to 60 million doses of the unused AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to other countries that need it. On Friday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said it was “likely” that the U.S. would soon ship about 5 million doses to Mexico, according to and Reuters.
Mexico has faced a delay in vaccine production at its own AstraZeneca plant, the media reported, which was expected to play a key role in the supply of doses. Mexico has also received fewer doses of Sputnik V from Russia than expected.
Sources
Reuters: “Exclusive: Pfizer begins exporting US-made COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico.” “Pfizer will export COVID-19 features made in the United States to Canada starting next week.” “Mexico expects to receive 5 million more doses of AstraZeneca from the US”
