The Mexican Air Force transported 400 thousand doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to countries in the region

Ismael Awad-Risk

The Mexican government’s decision to donate doses was taken by the President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with the aim of «showing Mexico’s solidarity and promoting access to vaccines in countries of the region.» Yesterday the doses of the drug were delivered, which traveled to their destination in CASA C-295s aircraft of the Mexican Air Force.

The vaccines delivered are product of a collaboration agreement between the governments of Mexico and Argentina, the Carlos Slim Foundation and AstraZeneca. The active substance was produced in the Argentine mAbxience laboratory and packaged at the Mexican plant in Liomont.

Vaccine delivery

150,000 doses were transferred to Paraguay aboard the plane C295 registration 3208 of the Mexican Air Force. The aircraft arrived in the early hours of the morning at the Asunción airport, where it was received by the country’s authorities.

The aircraft C-295 registration 3207, which carried 150,000 doses, arrived in Bolivia at night. The Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico, Martha Delgado, was also on board.

Finally, 100,000 injections of the drug arrived in Belize aboard aircraft registration 3206.

The CASA C-295 is a medium tactical transport aircraft that was designed by the Spanish company CASA in the 1990s. Its designation as C-295 follows the scheme of the aircraft designed by CASA, with the initial C of the manufacturer and then a three-digit number, of which the first indicates the number of engines and the next two the target payload: 9.5 tons. It is powered by two 2,645-hp Pratt & Whitney PW127G turboprops that drive two 6-blade Hamilton Standard 568F-5 propellers. Its maximum range is 2,150 km with full load at a cruise speed of 480 km / h.

The first units were incorporated into the Mexican Air Force in 2009. It currently operates eight C-295Ms, which are based on the 301st squadron at the Santa Lucia air base.

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