US offers clues as to how the world’s millions of vaccines will be distributed

The United States is analyzing the delivery of millions of vaccines to a dose-hungry world these days, and U.S. officials on Wednesday gave clues as to how the distribution will unfold: they said They will focus their efforts on “the most affected countries” such as Argentina, What “Currently he has the highest infection rate in the world.”

Three senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration held a virtual press conference in Washington after their recent visit to Ecuador for the inauguration of President Guillermo Lasso on Sunday. The Ambassador to the UN participated, Linda Thomas-Greenfield; the Acting Under-Secretary of State of the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Julie Chang and the director of the National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere, Juan González.

Officials pointed out that during Ecuador’s inauguration, they had the opportunity to meet various representatives of the region, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Felipe Solá, who traveled through Argentina.

One of the issues discussed at these meetings was obviously the pandemic, which particularly affects the region, where vaccines are scarce and vaccination is progressing at a very slow pace. They were all craving America’s attention because Bidenrecently announced that it will make available 20 million doses of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (the vaccines authorized in the United States), which is in addition to the 60 million AstraZeneca that will be given when this country is given the green light.

Argentina is fervently seeking to reach as much of these doses as possible to stop the outbreak of infections that does not stop.

Chang dispelled some doubts about what will this distro look like: “It will be an approach in which vaccines will be shared from Covax (the distribution platform monitored by the World Health Organization). It will be a priority, we will make sure that international standards are respected, ”he said.

But he added another element: “We will also share these vaccines. bilaterally and we will focus on the countries with the highest number of cases or that they have had strong moments or peaks of contagion. This is where we are going to focus the global response, ”he said. Our country certainly falls into this category.

Asked about conversations he had with Argentina’s Foreign Minister in Ecuador, González pointed out that they had spoken to Solá on various issues, some related to the pandemic. “Argentina has the highest infection rate in the world right now and that is why we are speaking out to respond to the pandemic together. One of the challenges will certainly be the administration of vaccines. “

Regarding the possibility of Argentinian planes being used to transport the doses, the American said that “they have made this offer and we have promised to follow the matter closely with them as President Biden takes the necessary steps to share vaccines”.

The United States also sees the need to expand regional vaccine production capacity for future pandemics. Chang stressed that they want to make sure that “this hemisphere has the production capacity, because that is one of the limitations we have been facing.”

In this regard, Gonzáles added: “I know that Argentina has an agreement with Mexico to produce AstraZéneca there. There are different conversations taking place right now to improve the situation across the region ”.

Since Biden announced 10 days ago that he would donate 20 million already authorized vaccines, Ambassador to Washington Jorge Argüello has activated all channels of contact with the White House and the State Department to that Argentina receive as many doses as possible.

The person responsible for leading this process at the US Department of Foreign Affairs is Gayle Smith, the Global Covid Response Coordinator, an official who has an office filled with dose requests from around the world. So far, beyond the feverish contacts, there are no new assignments.

Washington. Corresponding