WASHINGTON, June 4 — The United States will begin distributing the first 25 million doses of its surplus COVID-19 vaccines as part of the global framework to share 80 million doses by the end of the month, US President Joe Biden said in a release on Thursday, Sputnik reported.
“The administration announced its framework for sharing at least 80 million US vaccine doses globally by the end of June and the plan for the first 25 million doses,” the release said.
The United States will first distribute 6 million vaccine doses to South and Central America and then 7 million doses to Asia and 5 million doses to Africa via the COVAX facility, the release said.
The other 6 million doses will be distributed among the US partners and allies, including South Korea, Mexico, Ukraine, Iraq, West Bank and Gaza Strip, the release added.
Biden had promised one million vaccine doses to South Korean President Moon Jae-in during his visit to Washington, and these are expected to be delivered to Seoul tomorrow, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said during a briefing on Thursday.
At the same time, Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a briefing earlier in the day pointed out that Washington is not imposing any conditions for the vaccine deliveries in contrast to what other countries allegedly do.
The batch of 25 million doses includes vaccines that have been given emergency authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration from manufacturers Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, while 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are still awaiting the results of the agency’s safety review.
In March, the Biden administration loaned 4 million doses of the unauthorised AstraZeneca vaccines to Canada and Mexico.
