• The U.S. government offered over one million doses of the Janssen vaccine as a gesture of solidarity and support for Mexico.
  • They will be used to vaccinate a third of all Mexicans between the ages of 18 and 39 in the 38 municipalities on our border with the U.S.

During this morning's press conference led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said that yesterday U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told President López Obrador that the U.S. government was offering over a million doses of the Janssen vaccine as a gesture of solidarity and support for Mexico. They will be used to vaccinate people between the ages of 18 and 39 in the municipalities on the border between the two countries. 

The Foreign Secretary said that, on the instructions of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which the U.S. government will deliver in the next few days, will go to Mexicans living on the northern border, in order to accelerate the reopening of businesses there. "The purpose is for vaccinations in Mexico to progress to the same degree or in a proportion similar to that of the United States in order to speed things up."  

Foreign Secretary Ebrard said that this strategy will include the municipalities that border the U.S. in the states of Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Sonora and Tamaulipas. The more than one million vaccines being shipped from the U.S. will vaccinate a third of the age group mentioned and that the Mexican government would provide enough additional doses to vaccinate the remaining two thirds. 

The Foreign Secretary said that, in this way, the United States will be able to resume a large number of activities in the border region and the economic, trade and personal restrictions that have been in place during the pandemic will not have to continue.  He added that "the goal is that by the end of June we have this population covered and then we can agree with the United States to reopen activities on the border between Mexico and the United States." 

Foreign Secretary Ebrard said that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine received emergency use authorization from the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (Cofepris) on May 27. The Foreign Ministry, together with the appropriate U.S. agencies, will agree on the details of the cooperative project at the diplomatic and technical level and will announce the date of arrival in Mexico. He added that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a single-dose vaccine, does not require deep-freeze storage, and is 85% effective in preventing serious cases of COVID-19.  

To accelerate the recovery of the tourism industry in Mexico, the Foreign Secretary announced that the President had instructed the government to continue ensuring a sufficient supply of the various vaccines in Mexico's portfolio essentially to Quintana Roo and Baja California, although Jalisco and the coast of Nayarit, among other touristy areas, are also being considered.

Lastly, the Foreign Secretary mentioned U.S. Vice President Harris's visit to Mexico on June 7-8, saying that she will arrive in Mexico on Monday night on a flight from Guatemala. As instructed by the President, the core of the agenda will be about working together to accelerate investments and improve social welfare in southern Mexico, and specifically in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, "so that migration is optional and not made necessary by poverty and insecurity." 

The secretary said the meeting between delegations to address these issues will take place in the National Palace, after Vice President Harris's meeting with President López Obrador. He did not rule out the possibility of including other issues of importance for Mexico, if the president decided to include them.  

The Foreign Ministry reaffirms its commitment to promoting a foreign policy that ensures the health of all Mexicans and contributes to universal, timely and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, and to strengthening its bilateral relationship with its main trading partner.

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