“Once the goal of vaccinating everyone in the U.S. has been achieved, we would be in a position to discuss steps forward-” – Jen Psaki
WASHINGTON D.C. (Reforma) – Joe Biden is not considering sharing part of the U.S. supply of vaccines against covid-19 with Mexico before all its citizens can access the White House assured on Monday.
Due to press reports saying that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would ask his U.S. counterpart to share part of his doses to fight the coronavirus, Jen Psaki, presidential spokeswoman, assured it was not something that was in Biden’s plans.
She clarified that the Biden “has made it clear that his focus is to make vaccines accessible to every American. That is our focus,” Psaki responded during a press conference to a question on whether López Obrador’s possible request would be considered.
But the official stressed that for the U.S., the priority is “economic recovery. And that is to ensure that our neighbors, Canada and Mexico, have similarly managed to handle the pandemic so that we can open the borders”.
Once the goal of vaccinating all Americans has been achieved, “we would be in a position to discuss steps forward,” said Psaki. Mexico’s vaccination program has been delayed by slow shipments, despite agreements with international manufacturers.
Faced with Pfizer delays, Mexico sought to fill the gap and arranged to receive the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the product manufactured by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech.
So far, it has only managed to vaccinate 1.4 percent of the population of 126 million inhabitants, which has registered more than 185,000 deaths and more than two million covid-19 infections.
