The White House said Tuesday that it plans to export as many as 60 million vaccine doses to other countries in the coming months. The plan to share its stock of COVID-19 vaccines comes as the Biden administration is continually being pressured to increase its support to help vaccinate the rest of the world.
Officially did not specify where exactly they would be sending the vaccines. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine will be exported to countries that need it.
Psaki said U.S. regulators will still need to review the efficacy and quality of the vaccines currently being produced. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved AstraZeneca's vaccine for use in the country.
The Biden administration has been criticized for allowing millions of AstraZeneca's vaccines to remain unused while other countries are struggling to get enough doses.
Psaki said the first batch of AstraZeneca's vaccine - as many as 10 million doses - could be cleared for export "in the coming weeks." She said an additional 50 million doses could be shipped by May or June.
"The U.S.' decision to donate AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines is an important and welcomed step toward increasing equitable access worldwide," the director of programs for Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Carrie Teicher, said in a statement.
In recent months, the Biden administration has been facing growing pressure to do more in ensuring equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier in the month, the administration was the recipient of an open letter by a group of former world leaders and Nobel Prize laureates urging it to do more to help other countries.
Apart from asking it to donate surplus vaccine doses, the letter also called on the administration to waive U.S. intellectual property rules to allow other countries to produce U.S.-developed vaccines.
On Monday, the U.S. said it will be sending much-needed vaccines to India to help it battle a recent surge in COVID-19 infections. Biden reportedly spoke to India Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone and promised him that the U.S. will provide "emergency assistance, including oxygen-related supplies, vaccine materials and therapeutics."
