Biden has 20 million doses of AstraZeneca without knowing what to do with it

The American reserve of Controversial AstraZeneca Plc covid-19 vaccine It has risen to more than 20 million doses, according to people familiar with the matter, even as it seems increasingly unlikely that the vaccine will be part of President Joe Biden’s national immunization campaign.

AstraZeneca you have not yet requested approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the two-dose vaccine, as the company faces overseas safety issues and scrutiny from U.S. regulators who have already berated it for errors in clinical trials and the publication of partial data.

The three other vaccines already licensed in the United States will reach the arms of Americans at a rate of about 3 million doses per day., with hundreds of millions of additional doses expected to be delivered in August.

They claim there is “a link” between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the formation of thrombosis

This begs the question for Biden: what to do with the AstraZeneca vaccine?

The company already has more than 20 million doses on hand, part of a total of between 80 million and 90 million at some stage of production to meet the order in the United States.said people familiar with the matter. U.S. allies have previously sought doses from U.S. stocks of AstraZeneca, and the cheaper vaccine could be used to inoculate people in dozens of low-income countries who cannot afford Pfizer Inc’s vaccines. . and Moderna Inc.

“Give them all. When we think about authorizing it, we will be in a situation of saturation at the national level ”, he declared. Zeke Emanuel, physician and vice-chancellor of the University of Pennsylvania, who served as senior health policy adviser in the Obama administration and currently the Biden administration.

EU to block exports to AstraZeneca until it fulfills its contract

“We’re never going to use them,” he said.

Celine Gounder, a doctor who also served on a Biden covid-19 transition board, agreed that the doses should be given after the company obtains FDA clearance. “We’ve had enough, we don’t even need Johnson & Johnson,” he said.

“I would like the FDA to continue with their process, issue the emergency use authorization assuming they pass the test and are then given,” he added.

FDA approval is “really important,” he said, “because of all the concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

So far, there is no indication that AstraZeneca’s batches have been affected by problems at the emerging Baltimore plant, a company spokesperson said. Canadian and Mexican officials, who are urgently seeking vaccines, have not expressed concern. Rather, Mexico requested another shipment from the United States.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Thursday that he would consider receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine himself.

Biden has 20 million doses of AstraZeneca without knowing what to do with it