UPDATE 1-Biden to announce U.S. will send 20 mln vaccines abroad by end of June

(Adds background, further Psaki comment)

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden
plans to announce on Monday that he will send at least 20
million COVID-19 vaccine doses to other countries by the end of
June, marking the first time the United States is sharing
vaccines authorized for domestic use, White House press
secretary Jen Psaki said.

It will bring the total number of doses to be sent abroad to
80 million, Psaki said. That includes 60 million doses of
AstraZeneca's vaccine, which is not approved for use in
the United States.

The move comes as U.S. states are seeing drops in
vaccination numbers and countries like India are scrambling to
get vaccines to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Psaki said more information about how the vaccines will be
distributed is forthcoming.
(Reporting By Trevor Hunnicut and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)