A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine during a mass vaccination in Monterrey, on August 5. DANIEL BECERRIL / Reuters
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced on Tuesday that Mexico will soon receive up to 8.5 million vaccines from the United States: five million from AstraZeneca and 3.5 million from Moderna, a drug whose use for the moment is not approved by the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), but which he hopes will be validated soon. “This shipment, which will take place in the coming weeks, will significantly complement the effort we are making here in Mexico. We deeply appreciate this show of cooperation, which confirms the relationship between the two countries, "said Ebrard at the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in which he commented on the call held the day before between the president and the vice president of the United States. Kamala Harris.
Ebrard assured that in the conversation between the Mexican president and the US vice president, various issues of the bilateral relationship were discussed in a "short but substantial" manner and announced that a delegation from Washington will arrive in Mexico this Tuesday to continue with the high-level dialogue between the two. nations in which, among others, the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, the National Security advisor Jake Sullivan and Juan González, Biden's main advisor for Latin America, will participate.
The foreign minister announced that, among other issues, they will talk about the distribution of vaccines and the reopening of the land border between the two countries, which has been closed to non-essential activities since March 2020 due to the pandemic, a decision that has hit the economy of both nations, especially the border towns.
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Asked about the United States' decision to resume daily activities on its northern border with Canada but not on the southern border with Mexico, Ebrard assured that these are two different cases, but that today they would discuss that issue with Secretary Mayorkas.
In June, on the occasion of Vice President Harris's visit to Mexico, the Mexican authorities were excited that the acceleration of vaccination in the municipalities of the northern border would equalize the vaccination rates on both sides to facilitate the prompt resumption of activities. everyday. In fact, the Mexican authorities estimated then that the reopening could take place in July.
But Washington, which sees with fear how the cases of coronavirus rise in the United States before the advance of the delta variant and the difficulties to convince a large part of its population to get the vaccines they have available, has not spoken in any timing of dates to lift the measure, which for now remains in effect until August 21. Last June, during a visit to the border city of El Paso, Mayorkas acknowledged that it was a sensitive issue with significant economic repercussions, but said that the final decision on when to reopen would be based on "scientific data from the Centers of disease Control".
Finally, Ebrard assured that in the meetings on Tuesday the delegations will talk about the reactivation of the High Level Economic Dialogue (DEAN), scheduled for early September.
This platform, which existed in the past, but was eliminated by former President Donald Trump, seeks to give visibility to the cooperation mechanisms included in the free trade agreement, a tool that encourages investment in North America.
The Secretary of Economy, Tatiana Clouthier, will play a fundamental role in the agenda of these meetings, according to the Foreign Minister.
"The priority for Mexico will be to integrate the value chains after the experience of the pandemic," he explained.
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