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By Jeff Mason and Carl O'Donnell
WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - The White House laid out a
plan for the United States to share 25 million surplus COVID-19
vaccine doses to the world, with the first shots shipping as
soon as Thursday, and said it would ease other countries' access
to U.S.-made supplies for vaccine production.
President Joe Biden said the United States would give the
vaccines without expectation of political favors in return. The
dose shipments are the first of some 80 million COVID-19
vaccines that Biden has pledged to provide internationally this
month as concern grows about the huge disparity in vaccination
rates between advanced economies and developing countries.
The United States will donate nearly 19 million doses
through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing program, Biden
said in a statement. Through COVAX, some 6 million doses would
go to Latin America and the Caribbean, about 7 million doses to
South and Southeast Asia and roughly 5 million to Africa.
The remaining doses, amounting to just over 6 million, would
go directly from the United States to countries including
Canada, Mexico, India and South Korea, he said.
"We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract
concessions," Biden said. "We are sharing these vaccines to save
lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic,
with the power of our example and with our values."
Although the United States is working through COVAX co-run
by the World Health Organization, the White House retains final
say in which countries receive U.S. doses and how many, said
national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The White House will base donation decisions on "factors
included achieving global coverage, responding to crises ... and
helping as many countries as possible," Sullivan said, adding
the United States intends to prioritize its neighbors, including
Canada, Mexico and countries in Central and South America.
Reuters reported last month that the United States was
considering prioritizing its own hemisphere, with Latin America
a beneficiary.
The 25 million doses would be delivered quickly, with some
going out as soon as Thursday, the White House said.
For months, the White House remained focused on getting
Americans vaccinated as the coronavirus killed more than half a
million people in the United States. But Biden promised the
United States would become a supplier and send abroad at least
20 million doses of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE,
Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, on
top of some 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had
already planned to donate.
The 25 million doses Biden announced on Thursday will not
include supply from AstraZeneca, the White House said.
International organizations including the United Nations and
the World Bank welcomed the announcement. "It’s a good start,
and I am hoping that more doses will be made available," World
Bank President David Malpass said.
For Southeast Asian countries, it is a "symbolically
important" first step, but the dose shipments are a "drop in the
bucket" compared to what is needed in the region, said Alex
Feldman, head of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, a lobbying
group. He added that Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and
Thailand are facing serious difficulties with COVID-19.
LIFTING SOME RESTRICTIONS
The White House is also removing special powers it granted
through the Defense Production Act (DPA) to certain vaccine
makers that received U.S. funding but do not yet have U.S.
approvals, including AstraZeneca, Sanofi SA/GlaxoSmithKline Plc
, and Novavax Inc.
The DPA ratings give U.S. producers priority access to
supplies and equipment needed to manufacture the vaccines that
are in short supply around the world. Lifting them could free up
raw materials for major vaccine makers elsewhere, especially the
Serum Institute of India (SII).
Invoking the DPA helped the United States build a huge
vaccine production system, while some companies overseas have
struggled to get needed supplies to ramp up vaccine production.
SII, the world's largest vaccine maker and a top supplier of
COVID-19 shots to low- and middle-income countries, had
criticized the use of the DPA, and Reuters reported in May that
a shortage of U.S.-made raw materials would hit production of
Novavax's vaccine.
White House COVID-19 adviser Jeff Zients said the United
States would continue to donate additional doses throughout the
summer as more supply becomes available.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Thursday
urged the Group of Seven advanced economies to release any
excess COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries as soon as
possible, and called on manufacturers to ramp up production to
benefit poor countries.
Pfizer has begun independently exporting millions of its
U.S.-made shots largely to countries in Central and South
America, Reuters reported last month.
Many Latin American countries have a dire need for vaccines
as they combat outbreaks. Brazil has been one of the world’s
hardest-hit countries by the pandemic, reporting more than 15
million cases and 400,000 deaths.
Peru this week revised its COVID-19 death toll, making it
the country with the worst per-capita fatality rate.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Carl O'Donnell; additional
reporting by Allison Martell, Andrea Shalal and David
Brunnstrom; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Peter Cooney and Grant
McCool)
