Do you not share the wealth, Joe? Biden has stored doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that Europe and developing countries need because he wants it if the FDA approves it
- President Joe Biden holds doses of the unapproved AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because he wants ‘maximum flexibility’ to use it
- “I think his opinion is that his obligation, the first obligation, is to address the crisis in our country,” Psaki explained.
- Psaki was under the impression that there was a ‘moral dilemma’ for the US to put on doses of a vaccine that can not currently be used in Americans
- The doses in question were manufactured in the United States and are awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
President Joe Biden is holding doses of the unapproved AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because he wants ‘maximum flexibility’ to use it, press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday.
“I think he believes that his obligation, the first obligation, is to address the crisis in our country,” Psaki explained during the daily press conference. “And as leader of this country, he wants maximum flexibility.”
Psaki was under the impression that there was a ‘moral dilemma’ for the US to sit on doses of a vaccine that could not currently be used by Americans, but that could save lives in Europe and around the world.
President Joe Biden (left) wants ‘maximum flexibility’ on COVID-19 vaccines, which is why the US is sitting on non-approved doses of AstraZeneca’s product, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday
The AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved in Europe and elsewhere, but not in the United States. The vaccine doses produced in the United States still do not leave the country because the White House first addresses ‘what is another crisis in our country’.
She admitted that it was a ‘troublesome balance’, pointing out that an average of 1,400 Americans still die daily from the virus, while Biden also wants to be an ‘important member of the global community’.
Administration officials also said the U.S. is putting on AstraZeneca doses so they can roll them out quickly if approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
AstraZeneca has produced doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States, where it has yet to be approved.
The vaccine, developed at Oxford University, has been approved for use in the European Union and many countries.
Reuters reported this week that US officials have told the EU not to expect the shots from the United States any time soon.
“We have a small inventory of AstraZeneca, so if we approve it, we can issue the stock to the American people,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeffrey Zients said in a press release Friday.
The New York Times reported this week that tens of millions of doses have already been produced in the United States and are sitting unused in production facilities.
Psaki said during the briefing that she was “not sure” that the US government would have a number on how many doses are currently in stock.
AstraZeneca said in February it expected the vaccine to be able to receive US emergency use in early April and deliver 30 million doses immediately in places in the United States.
The US stance could jeopardize AstraZeneca’s efforts to come closer to the EU’s 180 million dose contractual obligation in the second quarter.
AstraZeneca told the EU earlier this year that it would reduce its inventory by at least half to less than 90 million doses in the second quarter, EU sources told Reuters, after a larger decline in the first three months of the year .
Biden said Wednesday the government will first give the Americans COVID-19 vaccines, but any surplus will be shared with the world.
The United States was one of the world leaders in vaccine administration.
It distributed more than 130 million shots and fired nearly 100 million, according to federal data last updated on Thursday.
White House officials said Friday that 65 percent of Americans over the age of 65 were shot.