WHO Endorses COVID-19 Vaccine Made by Argentina and Mexico

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) included in its "Emergency Use Listing" the AstraZeneca vaccine jointly produced by Argentina and Mexico.

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While the active pharmaceutical ingredient for this recombinant vaccine is manufactured by mAbxience in Argentina, Liomont Lab mixes and finishes the product for its final distribution from Mexico.

“This is an important milestone for Latin America and highlights the importance of technology transfer to increase the availability of quality COVID-19 vaccines in the region,” Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said.

The approval of this regionally-manufactured vaccine comes as Latin America is experiencing over 1.1 million new COVID-19 infections per week.

PAHO warned that vaccine inequity continues to divide the region, with a handful of countries unlikely to reach the 40 percent vaccination target by the end of the year and many just above the 50 percent threshold of full immunization. Boosting regional capacity to produce vaccines is key to bridging this gap.

“We remain committed to continuously supporting our countries to increase the production of critical medicines, as the region can meaningfully contribute to addressing the inequities we have seen to date,” Etienne said, adding that the PAHO Regional Platform will boost state-of-the-art pharmaceutical capacity, and facilitate technology transfer to develop mRNA vaccines.

The WHO Emergency Use Listing is a procedure for assessing and listing vaccines, therapeutics and other medical tools to expedite their availability during a health emergency. To date, eleven COVID-19 vaccines are listed under this mechanism, as PAHO recalled.