With President Biden’s addition of 100 million more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the nation’s vaccine stockpile, the U.S. is now likely …
With President Biden’s addition of 100 million more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the nation’s vaccine stockpile, the U.S. is now likely not only to meet its target of vaccinating all adults by June, but also to have a surplus in the millions of doses to share with other nations. The recent announcement that the U.S. plans to “loan” Mexico 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is a promising start, but as the U.S. rolls out a larger strategy of vaccine diplomacy this summer, it will be faced again with an important question: who’s first? To that, there’s an easy answer: Mexico first. Why Mexico, when so many other countries are so desperately in need? The justification can be summarized in three words: fatalities, flows and friendship. Mexico has been hammered by the coronavirus. Of 20 countries most affected by COVID-19, Mexico has the highest mortality rate, with 9 deaths per 100 confirmed cases. This is four times the U.S. rate. With more than 2.1 million confirmed cases as of March 2021, Mexico ranked 14th among the world’s most infected nations, third globally for deaths. Mexico’s vaccination campaign is cobbled together from a pastiche of supplies purchased from Russia, China, Great Britain and the U.S., much as yet undelivered. COVAX, the World Health Organization’s vaccination initiative, could help, but 156 nations are already in the queue. It will be remarkable if Mexico manages to vaccinate its 126 million people by summer 2022 without help.
