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About 182 million Americans have yet to receive a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine – and despite White House promises to vaccinate them first, the Biden administration is already considering sending doses to neighbors in the United States. Canada and Mexico.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced on Friday that the United States plans to send 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico and 1.5 million doses to Canada .
UNITED STATES TO SEND MILLION DOSES OF ASTRAZENECA TO CANADA AND MEXICO
The Biden administration said that once U.S. citizens are vaccinated, the next step is to make sure Canada and Mexico are able to handle the pandemic so the borders can reopen. That could mean more vaccines for Canada faster and a shorter wait for second doses.
The loan deal will not affect President Biden’s goal of making all adult Americans eligible for a vaccine by May 1 and will not reduce the supply of vaccines available in the United States, Reuters told Reuters a senior administration official.
Although the Canadian economy is closely interconnected with the United States, Washington has so far not allowed the export of the hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines made in America, and Canada has had to turn to the Europe and Asia.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has not been authorized in the United States but has been authorized by the World Health Organization. Tens of millions of doses were stored in the United States if they were given an emergency use authorization, which sparked an international outcry that life-saving doses were being withheld when they could be used elsewhere.
But AstraZeneca, in a statement regarding its US plans on Monday, said it planned to submit its EUA application to the FDA in “the first half of April.”
“If approved, we can deliver 30 million doses immediately after EUA, and additional doses to total up to 50 million in the coming weeks,” they said. “Thereafter, we plan to deliver 15-20 million doses per month.”
According to the White House, the United States has a stockpile of 7 million releasable doses of AstraZeneca. This includes the amount the administration would lend to Mexico and Canada.
People line up at the check-in area to enter the United Center’s COVID-19 mass vaccination site on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, in Chicago.
(AP Photo / Shafkat Anowar)
Meanwhile, difficulties in the vaccine supply chain have forced Canada to extend the time between the first and second vaccine to four months so everyone can be protected faster with the primary dose. The hope is to get at least one injection for all adults by the end of June.
BIDEN FOCUSED ON COVID19 VACCINES FOR ‘ALL AMERICANS’ BEFORE HELPING OTHER NATIONS, SAYS PSAKI
Canadian regulators have approved the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but their acquisition has proven difficult.
Canada ranks 20th for the number of doses administered, with approximately 8% of the adult population having received at least one vaccine. This compares to around 38% in the UK and 22% in the US
The vaccine-sharing plan is not fully finalized, Psaki said, adding that the “loan” could include other doses, but did not provide more details, while noting that Americans getting vaccinated remains. the “first priority” of the administration.
“Our first priority remains the vaccination of the American population,” Psaki said during the daily briefing, while adding that “ensuring that our neighbors can contain the virus is a critical step for the mission, is essential to end the the pandemic. “
Earlier this month Mexican President Manuel López Obrador reportedly asked President Biden for immunization assistance, but when asked by reporters if the president would support the proposal, Psaki emphatically said “no.”
“No,” she said. “The president has made it clear that his focus is on making vaccines accessible to all Americans. This is our goal.”
She added, “But our goal, her goal, the administration’s goal, is to make sure every American is vaccinated, and when we reach that goal, we’re happy to discuss other steps beyond that. . “
So far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 81.4 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 44.1 million Americans have been fully immunized.
But the president has set a goal of vaccinating at least 100 million Americans in the first 100 days – a goal that administration officials believe is realistic, and that they will have exceeded, as the United States immunizes more. Americans a day than officials initially thought.
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Meanwhile, as with other foreign aid, the Biden administration announced ahead of the G-7 virtual meeting last month that it had committed $ 2 billion for the global COVAX vaccine initiative using funds already allocated by Congress, plus an additional $ 2 billion over the next two years.
COVAX is a United Nations-backed alliance that aims to provide vaccines to the world’s most vulnerable countries.
Additionally, as part of the G-7 virtual meeting last month, the president discussed a global response to the coronavirus pandemic, including coordination on vaccine production, distribution and supply.
Former President Trump signed an executive order in December that guaranteed all Americans access to the coronavirus vaccine before the US government began helping countries around the world.
Trump administration officials at the time said the order was intended to re-emphasize to the American people that “the priority has been an America-first approach.”
Fox News’ Kaitlin Sprague, Madeline Farber, Remy Numa and Associated Press contributed to this report.
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