FILE: President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive back at the White House after the first lady went to an appointment for a "common medical procedure" at an outpatient center in Washington, Wednesday, April 14, 2021. She plans to visit the Navajo Nation on Thursday, April 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — First lady Jill Biden will visit the Navajo Nation Thursday, meeting with Navajo leaders as part of a three-day swing through the southwestern U.S.
The White House said the first lady will first visit Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday, where she will tour a health clinic in the city’s South Valley with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Thursday, Biden will visit the Navajo Nation, meeting with President Jonathan Nez and First Lady Phefelia Nez in
FILE: Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez speaking in 2017 against the reduction in size of Bears Ears National Monument, when he was vice president, at the Salt Lake City Marriott City Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017. When first lady Jill Biden visits the Navajo Nation in April 2021, she will meet with Nez. Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Window Rock, Ariz. Then on Friday, the White House said Biden planned to visit a vaccination site and sit in on a listening session with students.
The White House did not offer further details about the visit, but Nez told the Arizona Republic that Biden planned to also meet with the Navajo Nation’s second lady, Dottie Lizer.
The Navajo Nation extends across the Four Corners region, covering parts of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
Window Rock serves as the capital of the Navajo Nation, which was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases continue to decline in the region now, but at one point, the rate of infection was much higher than the national average.
In November, the Biden transition team announced the appointment of Dr. Jill Jim, the executive director of the Navajo Department of Health, to serve on the then-president-elect’s COVID-19 advisory board.
