Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is available in Mexico for the first time, thanks to a 1.75 million dose donation from the U.S. government that landed in Mexico City Tuesday.

The donation to Mexico via a FedEx donated aircraft was facilitated by Direct Relief, which served as the licensed distributor importing the medicine.

In June, Mexico became the first country to receive Covid vaccines donated by the U.S. government when FedEx delivered 1.35 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine. That donation was also facilitated by Direct Relief.

As of Aug. 22, 44 percent of Mexicans have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, according to Our World in Data.

The additional 1.75 million Mexicans who can now receive Covid vaccines will bring Mexico closer to the date when it can achieve a crucial economic goal: reopening the land border with the United States to non-essential travel. It has been closed since March 2020, battering economies on both sides of the border that depend heavily on cross-border commerce.

“These vaccines will help protect the lives of people in Mexico,” said Eduardo Mendoza, who manages Direct Relief’s operations in Mexico and who led Direct Relief’s work in facilitating the cross-border donation. “Every lot of vaccine brings us closer to the end of the pandemic.”

The U.S. Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services collaborated to secure and donate the vaccines. Their counterparts on Mexico’s side were the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health.