Biden to refuse Mexico’s request to share vaccine supply

Griffin Connolly
·1 min read
Joe Biden has not wavered from his stance of giving every American the option of receiving a vaccine before sharing supplies with other countries. (Getty Images)
Joe Biden has not wavered from his stance of giving every American the option of receiving a vaccine before sharing supplies with other countries. (Getty Images)
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Joe Biden is expected to deny an entreaty on Monday from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for the US to share its Covid vaccine supply with its poorer neighbour to the south.

“No,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki bluntly responded at her daily press briefing on Monday when asked whether Mr Biden would take Mr Lopez Obrador’s request into consideration.

“The President has made clear that he is focused on ensuring that vaccines are accessible to every American. That is our focus,” Ms Psaki said.

“The next step is economic recovery — and [part of] that is ensuring that our neighbours, Mexico and Canada, have similarly managed the pandemic so that we can open borders and build back better. But ... the administration’s focus is on ensuring that every American is vaccinated. And once we accomplish that objective, we're happy to discuss further steps beyond that.”

Mr Biden and Mr Lopez Obrador were scheduled to meet at a virtual summit later on Monday.