WASHINGTON – The Biden government is working to finalize plans to ship millions of doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada, the White House said Thursday.
About 2.5 million doses will go to Mexico and 1.5 million doses will go to Canada as U.S. regulators wait on the company to provide further information on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
The move to release part of the U.S. stockpile, which comes as the government faces a growing humanitarian crisis on the southern border, would not affect the country’s ability to deliver enough vaccine doses by May, according to the White House. all Americans have.
“Our first priority remains to vaccinate the American people,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a White House briefing. “The reality is that the pandemic knows no bounds, and ensuring that our neighbors can contain the virus is critical to ending the pandemic.”
The deal was first reported by Reuters.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has yet to be cleared for use in the United States, although it is already being administered in Europe and a number of other countries, some of which have asked the US to share a portion of its stock. According to Psaki, the US currently has 7 million doses in its stock.
Administration officials recently said there are no plans to divide doses out of stock, citing a desire to be prepared in the event of manufacturing disruptions, the emergence of new variants and the possibility of having children in ent that already begins in the fall. But Psaki said Thursday that it is also in the best interests of the United States to ensure that the virus is controlled at the northern and southern borders of America.
The decision to share doses with US neighbors comes amid questions about the safety of the vaccine by European officials. The European Medicines Agency said on Thursday that the vaccine was safe for use after a number of countries, including Germany, France and Italy, suspended it due to concerns about blood clots in some recipients.
This came after European regulators said on Tuesday that they were reviewing new information and found that there was an indication that there was a link between AstraZeneca’s vaccine and blood clotting. They added that the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks.
If U.S. regulators clear the AstraZeneca vaccine, the country would receive a total of 300 million doses from the company, including the 7 million the U.S. already has.
