Mexico and the United States will consider gradually reopening their land border, which has been closed to non-essential traffic since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Mexican government said Tuesday. The issue is on the agenda for the visit of US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who arrived in Mexico City late Monday for talks. The two sides will discuss a proposal from Mexico to move towards a resumption of non-essential crossings, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told reporters. "It's a good sign that he's coming to Mexico to hear the country's proposals and what impact the border closure has had on the entire region," Ebrard said. Mexico plans the mass vaccination of adults along the border using 1.35 million Johnson & Johnson shots donated by the United States that arrived on Tuesday. Once that is achieved, "there would no longer be an argument to maintain the restrictions on health grounds," Ebrard said. With 600,000 Covid-19 deaths, the United States has by far the largest pandemic death toll, but it has also organized one of the world's most effective vaccine roll-outs. More than half the US population has received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose. Mexico's official pandemic death toll of around 230,000 is the world's fourth highest. About 29 percent of its adults have had at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot and infections and deaths have been trending lower for several months. nc-dr/cl