Mexican president thanks Biden for COVID-19 shots loan

Mexico has scrambled to obtain enough shots for its vaccination campaign, and has leaned on Russia and China.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador thanked his US counterpart Joe Biden on Friday for agreeing to loan Mexico 2.7 million COVID-19 vaccines to help offset a shortfall in its inoculation drive. Lopez Obrador told a news briefing that the United States will send slightly more than the 2.5 million doses US officials had previously indicated of AstraZeneca’s vaccine. “The US government has decided to help us and send 2.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Lopez Obrador said in the eastern state of Veracruz, noting the deal was reached on good terms for Mexico and that he hoped the vaccines would be arriving from next week.