U.S. to Send Millions of Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada

The announcement came at a time when the Biden administration has been quietly pressing Mexico to ramp up its efforts to limit the flow of migrants.

Vehicles waiting in line at a mass vaccination site in Tonalá, Mexico, this week.
Vehicles waiting in line at a mass vaccination site in Tonalá, Mexico, this week.Credit…Ulises Ruiz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Natalie KitroeffMaria Abi-HabibZolan Kanno-YoungsJim Tankersley

By Natalie Kitroeff, Maria Abi-Habib, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Jim Tankersley

March 18, 2021Updated 6:03 p.m. ET

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The United States plans to send millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and Canada, the White House said Thursday, a notable step into vaccine diplomacy just as the Biden administration is quietly pressing Mexico to curb the stream of migrants coming to the border.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the United States was planning to share 2.5 million doses of the vaccine with Mexico and 1.5 million with Canada, adding that it was “not finalized yet, but that is our aim.”

Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine have been sitting in American manufacturing sites. While their use has already been approved in dozens of countries, including Mexico and Canada, the vaccine has not yet been authorized by American regulators. Ms. Psaki said the shipments to Mexico and Canada would essentially be a loan, with the United States receiving doses of AstraZeneca, or other vaccines, in the future.

The announcement of the vaccine distribution came at a critical time in negotiations with Mexico. President Biden has moved quickly to dismantle some of former President Trump’s signature immigration policies, halting construction of a border wall, stopping the swift expulsion of children at the border and proposing a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States.

But he is clinging to a central element of Mr. Trump’s agenda: relying on Mexico to restrain a wave of people making their way to the United States.

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Anticipating a surge of migrants and the most apprehensions by American agents at the border in two decades, Mr. Biden asked President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico in a video call this month whether more could be done to help solve the problem, according to Mexican officials and another person briefed on the conversation.
ImageA Texas State Trooper escorting asylum seekers at the border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States this month. At the end of last year, the number of Central Americans apprehended by Mexico declined, while detentions by American agents increased.
A Texas State Trooper escorting asylum seekers at the border after they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States this month. At the end of last year, the number of Central Americans apprehended by Mexico declined, while detentions by American agents increased.Credit…Adrees Latif/Reuters

The two presidents also discussed the possibility of the United States sending Mexico some of its surplus vaccine supply, a senior Mexican official said. Mexico has publicly asked the Biden administration to send it doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

At a news briefing on Thursday, Ms. Psaki said that the discussions over vaccines and border security between the United States and Mexico were “unrelated” but also “overlapping.”

Asked by a reporter if the United States had “strings attached” to its offer to lend vaccines to Mexico, Ms. Psaki replied that there were “several diplomatic conversations — parallel conversations — many layers of conversations” at play in the discussions.

“There’s rarely just one issue you’re discussing with any country at one time,” Ms. Psaki said. “Certainly that’s not the case with Mexico. It’s not the case with any country around the world. And so I wouldn’t read into it more than our ability to provide — to lend — vaccine doses.”

Mexican officials also say the efforts to secure vaccines are separate from the negotiations over migration, and rejected the notion that a quid pro quo was involved.

“These are two separate issues,” Roberto Velasco, director general for the North America region at Mexico’s foreign ministry, said in a statement, referring to the engagement between the two countries on migration and vaccines.

But Mexican officials acknowledge that relations between the United States and Mexico, which has suffered one of the world’s deadliest coronavirus epidemics, would be buoyed by a shipment of doses south.

“We look for a more humane migratory system and enhanced cooperation against COVID-19, for the benefit of our two countries and the region,” Mr. Velasco added.
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President Biden meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico during a video conference on March 1.
President Biden meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico during a video conference on March 1.Credit…Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

Several European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine this week, a precaution because some people who had received the shot later developed blood clots and severe bleeding. But on Thursday, Europe’s drug regulator declared the vaccine safe. AstraZeneca has also said that a review of 17 million people who received the vaccine found they were less likely than others to develop dangerous clots.

A Biden administration official declined to comment further on the negotiations with Mexico, but noted that both countries shared a common goal of reducing migration by addressing its root causes, and said they were working closely to stem the flow of people streaming to the border.

The Biden administration is facing intense pressure, scrambling to find shelter space for a growing number of migrant children and teenagers held in American detention facilities along the border.

More than 4,500 of them were stuck in detention facilities as of Thursday, with the Biden administration working on putting them in a convention center in Dallas, a former camp for oil workers in Midland, Texas, and possibly a NASA site in California.

The administration has also identified nearly a dozen other sites, including Defense Department facilities, to potentially house the children and teenagers until they can be placed with a sponsor, according to a government document from March obtained by The New York Times. One of the sites — in Pecos, Texas — could hold 2,000 beds.
The New York Times