Jill Biden visits Southwest US amid vaccine push

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — First lady Jill Biden is kicking off a three-day, two-state visit to the U.S. Southwest with a tour of a vaccination clinic in New Mexico, where early efforts to get people registered for shots helped to propel the state's standing as a national leader in vaccine distribution.

Wednesday’s tour comes as the nation is set to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of administering 200 million coronavirus doses in his first 100 days in office. The president is expected to outline his administration’s latest plans to motivate more Americans to get shots as demand diminishes.

In New Mexico, nearly 39% of residents 16 and older have been fully vaccinated. While eligibility was expanded earlier this month as part of the Biden administration's push, the focus is now shifting to younger people ahead of the summer break.

Jill Biden on Wednesday afternoon is scheduled to visit a health care clinic in Albuquerque where vaccines are being administered. She will be accompanied by New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose administration has been working to ensure that shots are being distributed to rural and underserved areas through mobile clinics and partnerships with community health organizations.

At a drive-thru vaccination clinic in remote Mora County on Tuesday, health workers and members of a volunteer medical corps sped through a list of registered patients and offered shots of the Moderna vaccine to unregistered companions and a few passersby. Emergency technicians fanned out at day's end, traveling down dirt roads to administer shots to homebound elderly residents in a sprawling county with just 4,500 residents who are 80% Latino. Mora is among the poorest counties in the nation.

The clinic’s lead pharmacist, Uri Bassan, said local vaccinations efforts are shifting toward eligible high...