The COVID vaccination ends at the US border

The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, announced that vaccination against Covid-19 ends this Tuesday in all municipalities of the northern border with the United States.

From June 17 to September 13, about 3.8 million vaccines were administered in 45 border municipalities.

The program, which began with the US government’s donation of 1.3 million vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, sought in part to accelerate the reopening of land borders, which have been closed to non-essential travel since March 2020.

“This really allows the borders to be fully opened,” Lopez Obrador said this Tuesday during his daily press conference.

However, there is still no word from the US government on when reopening will resume.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is maintaining ground travel restrictions until at least September 21.

In its most recent announcement, DHS reportedly continues to work with authorities and public health experts from both the United States and other countries “to determine how to resume normal travel in a safe and sustainable manner.”

This massive vaccination program began in Baja California, where more than 1.2 million people have been vaccinated with doses of Johnson & Johnson.

Subsequently, the program continued in Sonora (310 thousand 582 doses), Chihuahua (867 thousand 592), Coahuila (244 thousand 929), Nuevo Leon (9 thousand 228) and Tamaulipas (059 million). In the latter, there are about 65,000 doses that will be applied on Tuesday, according to information from the federal government.

In the border municipalities of those states, they used doses of both J&J and Pfizer.

Last week, the Mexican government again raised the reopening of land borders under the High Level Economic Dialogue (DEAN), which was held at the White House.

Although the issue has been brought to the table as “a catalyst for economic recovery in both countries,” according to the reform agency, Mexican authorities have not determined whether there has been a response from their US counterparts.

Rosa Isilla Rodriguez, Mexico’s minister of security and protection of citizens, who is responsible for the vaccination plan, said the border would already be in conditions that would allow it to eventually reopen.

“It is ready to proceed with the opening when it is agreed.”

In turn, he explained that there is participation from about 90 percent of the eligible population in the said municipalities.