Wealthy Mexican nationals are coming to the United States to get their coronavirus vaccinations amid the disastrous vaccine rollout in Mexico.
“They just told you that those in the line who were older than 65 were going to get vaccinated,” said 70-year-old Mexican citizen Mauricio Fernandez, who used his passport as ID when getting vaccinated. “It’s very generous that the Americans could include everyone who was in the line, undocumented migrants, Mexicans, whoever. They weren’t saying ‘this person yes, and this person no.’”
Fernandez received his dose of the vaccine in Texas while on vacation with friends, a trend that is growing in some of Mexico’s wealthiest circles. Most of the people looking for vaccines in states such as Texas and Florida are over 60, though not all are. But one thing they do share is the financial ability to make the journey.
Many of the foreign nationals coming to the U.S. to get the vaccine come from the wealthy city of San Pedro Garza Garcia, a place with multiple large companies and residents with strong ties to the U.S. and Texas.
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“We are not only geographically connected but also culturally and through family and friendships,” said Miguel Trevino, the city’s mayor. “It is a municipality where there is even a large number of people with U.S. nationality or residency. So all these links that form part of the community open up the possibility of getting vaccinated in Texas, which has indeed happened.”
But not all Mexicans are so lucky to have the wealth or connections to America, leaving many to wait as Mexico struggles with a slow vaccine rollout.
When vaccines are available in the country, the administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has faced criticism over a lack of transparency about who gets to receive a dose. Even more controversially, Obrador has prioritized the “nation’s servants,” a group of about 30,000 people that promotes the government’s social programs.
The Mexican government has now launched a website that allows those 65 and older to register for their dose of the vaccine, but the website has been plagued with problems, and the government doesn’t even have enough vaccines available to administer to the group.
“What I’m seeing here is that they don’t give a s—, no one has the wits to solve this problem, neither on a local or national level,” Fernandez said.
Trevino believes “there is a little bit of desperation” among residents of his city, “with respect to the lack of organization and clarity that they are seeing from the federal government.”
“On the one hand, this is something we understand, but we as a municipality have to coordinate [with authorities]. Above all, we have to recognize that the authorities when it comes to health are the Mexican government and the state,” Trevino said.
Meanwhile, residents of Texas awaiting their turn have grown frustrated by the stream of foreign nationals getting shots in their state. Gov. Greg Abbott has responded by ensuring the public that “Texas vaccines are for Texas residents,” a reality that hasn’t always played out.
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But Marc Boom, the CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital, doesn’t believe the situation has become a major issue.
“If a few have fallen through the cracks, that is hardly the largest issue that we are dealing with,” Boom said.
