Americans wait for COVID-19 vaccines as US commits millions of doses for Mexico, Canada
About 182 million Americans have yet to receive a primary dose of the COVID-19 vaccine — and despite the White House's promises to vaccinate them first, the Biden administration is already planning to send doses to neighbors in Canada and Mexico.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Friday that the U.S. plans to send 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico, and 1.5 million doses to Canada.
The Biden administration has said that when U.S. citizens are vaccinated, the subsequent step is ensuring Canada and Mexico can manage the pandemic therefore the borders can reopen. that would mean more vaccines for Canada faster and a shorter await second doses.
The loan deal won't affect President Biden's goal of getting all adult Americans eligible for a vaccine by May Day and can not reduce the availability of obtainable vaccine within the U.S., a senior administration official told Reuters.
Although Canada's economy is tightly interconnected with the U.S., Washington hasn't allowed the many many vaccine doses made in America to be exported so far, and Canada has had to show to Europe and Asia.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has not been authorized to be used within the U.S. but has been by the planet Health Organization. Tens of many doses are stockpiled within the U.S. should it receive emergency use authorization, sparking a world outcry that lifesaving doses were being withheld once they might be used elsewhere.
But AstraZeneca, during a statement regarding their U.S. plans on Monday, said they decide to submit their EUA application to the FDA in "the half of April."
"Should it's approved, we will deliver 30 million doses immediately upon EUA, and extra doses to total up to 50M within the weeks to follow," they said. "Thereafter, we decide to provide 15-20M doses per month."
According to the White House, the U.S. features a stockpile of seven million releasable doses of AstraZeneca doses. that has the quantity the administration would be loaning to Mexico and Canada.
Meanwhile, the vaccine supply chain difficulties have forced Canada to increase the time between the first shot and therefore the second by up to four months so that everyone is often protected faster with the primary dose. The hope is to urge all adults a minimum of the round by the top of June.
Canadian regulators have approved the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but acquiring them has proven difficult.
Canada ranks about 20th within the number of doses administered, with about 8% of the adult population accessing least round. That compares with about 38% within the U.K. and 22% within the U.S.
The vaccine-sharing plan isn't fully finalized, Psaki said, adding the "loan" could include other doses, but didn't provide further details while noting Americans getting vaccinated remains the administration’s "priority."
"Our priority remains to vaccinate the U.S. population," Psaki said at the daily briefing, though added that "ensuring our neighbors can contain the virus may be a mission-critical step, is mission critical to ending the pandemic."
Earlier this month, Mexican President Manuel López Obrador reportedly asked President Biden for vaccine aid, but when asked by reporters whether the president would support that proposal, Psaki gave an emphatic "no."
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"No," she said. "The president has made clear that he's focused on ensuring vaccines are accessible to each American. that's our focus."
She added: "But our focus, his focus, the administration’s focus, is ensuring every American is vaccinated, and once we accomplish that objective, we're happy to debate further steps beyond that."
So far, consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 81.4 million Americans have received a minimum of one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 44.1 million Americans are fully vaccinated.
But the president set a goal of vaccinating a minimum of 100 million Americans within his first 100 days — a goal administration officials say is realistic, and one that they're going to have surpassed, as the U.S. vaccinates more Americans per day than officials initially believed they might.
Meanwhile, as for other aid, the Biden administration announced before the virtual G-7 meeting last month that they committed $2 billion for the worldwide COVAX vaccine initiative using funds already allocated by Congress, plus a further $2 billion over the subsequent two years.
COVAX is an alliance backed by the United Nations, which aims to deliver vaccines to the world's most vulnerable nations.
Also, as a part of the virtual G-7 meeting last month, the president discussed a worldwide response to the coronavirus pandemic, including coordination on vaccine production, distribution, and supplies.
Former President Trump in December signed an executive order that ensured all Americans have access to the coronavirus vaccine before the U.S. government begins aiding nations around the world.
Trump administration officials, at the time, said the order was meant to reemphasize to the American folks that "the priority has been an America First approach."
Fox News' Kaitlin Sprague, Madeline Farber, Remy Numa, and therefore the Associated Press contributed to the present report.
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