|
 President Joe Biden said the United States would give the vaccines
without expectation of political favors in return. The dose
shipments are the first of some 80 million COVID-19 vaccines that
Biden has pledged to provide internationally this month as concern
grows about the huge disparity in vaccination rates between advanced
economies and developing countries.
The United States will donate nearly 19 million doses through the
COVAX international vaccine-sharing program, Biden said in a
statement. Through COVAX, some 6 million doses would go to Latin
America and the Caribbean, about 7 million doses to South and
Southeast Asia and roughly 5 million to Africa.
The remaining doses, amounting to just over 6 million, would go
directly from the United States to countries including Canada,
Mexico, India and South Korea, he said.
"We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract
concessions," Biden said. "We are sharing these vaccines to save
lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic, with
the power of our example and with our values."
Although the United States is working through COVAX co-run by the
World Health Organization, the White House retains final say in
which countries receive U.S. doses and how many, said national
security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The White House will base donation decisions on "factors included
achieving global coverage, responding to crises ... and helping as
many countries as possible," Sullivan said, adding the United States
intends to prioritize its neighbors, including Canada, Mexico and
countries in Central and South America.
Reuters reported last month that the United States was considering
prioritizing its own hemisphere, with Latin America a beneficiary.
The 25 million doses would be delivered quickly, with some going out
as soon as Thursday, the White House said.
For months, the White House remained focused on getting Americans
vaccinated as the coronavirus killed more than half a million people
in the United States. But Biden promised the United States would
become a supplier and send abroad at least 20 million doses of the
Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines,
on top of some 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already
planned to donate.
The 25 million doses Biden announced on Thursday will not include
supply from AstraZeneca, the White House said.
International organizations including the United Nations and the
World Bank welcomed the announcement. "It’s a good start, and I am
hoping that more doses will be made available," World Bank President
David Malpass said.
[to top of second column] |
 For Southeast Asian countries,
it is a "symbolically important" first step, but
the dose shipments are a "drop in the bucket"
compared to what is needed in the region, said
Alex Feldman, head of the U.S.-ASEAN Business
Council, a lobbying group. He added that
Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand
are facing serious difficulties with COVID-19.
LIFTING SOME RESTRICTIONS
The White House is also removing special powers it granted through
the Defense Production Act (DPA) to certain vaccine makers that
received U.S. funding but do not yet have U.S. approvals, including
AstraZeneca, Sanofi SA/GlaxoSmithKline Plc, and Novavax Inc.
The DPA ratings give U.S. producers priority access to supplies and
equipment needed to manufacture the vaccines that are in short
supply around the world. Lifting them could free up raw materials
for major vaccine makers elsewhere, especially the Serum Institute
of India (SII). Invoking the DPA helped the United
States build a huge vaccine production system, while some companies
overseas have struggled to get needed supplies to ramp up vaccine
production.
SII, the world's largest vaccine maker and a top supplier of
COVID-19 shots to low- and middle-income countries, had criticized
the use of the DPA, and Reuters reported in May that a shortage of
U.S.-made raw materials would hit production of Novavax's vaccine.
White House COVID-19 adviser Jeff Zients said the United States
would continue to donate additional doses throughout the summer as
more supply becomes available.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Thursday urged the
Group of Seven advanced economies to release any
excess COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries as soon as
possible, and called on manufacturers to ramp up production to
benefit poor countries.
Pfizer has begun independently exporting millions of its U.S.-made
shots largely to countries in Central and South America, Reuters
reported last month.
Many Latin American countries have a dire need for vaccines as they
combat outbreaks. Brazil has been one of the world’s hardest-hit
countries by the pandemic, reporting more than 15 million cases and
400,000 deaths.
Peru this week revised its COVID-19 death toll, making it the
country with the worst per-capita fatality rate.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Carl O'Donnell; additional reporting by
Allison Martell, Andrea Shalal and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Bill
Berkrot, Peter Cooney and Grant McCool)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
