WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States plans to send 4 million combined doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico and Canada on their first export of vaccines, the White House reported on Thursday.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden government is in the process of finalizing efforts to distribute 2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada as a “loan”. The details are still being worked out.
“Our first priority remains to vaccinate the population of the United States,” said Psaki at the daily briefing. But she added that “ensuring that our neighbors can contain the virus is a critical step in the mission, it is a critical mission to end the pandemic.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine was not authorized for use in the United States, but it was by the World Health Organization. Tens of millions of doses were stored in the United States if they received emergency use authorization, generating an international outcry that the life-saving doses were being retained when they could be used elsewhere.
Psaki said several nations had requested access to US vaccines, but she had nothing to add to new distributions.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that Mexico was receiving the vaccine as a result of the conversation between President Joe Biden and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador earlier this month. “Good news!” He wrote.
“God bless America, they are coming to our rescue,” said Ontario premier Doug Ford, leader of Canada’s most populous province. He thanked Biden for his willingness to share the vaccines.
“And as soon as I get it, I’m going to call him a champion, but I need to get delivery first, so thank you. I appreciate it. We are waiting. That’s what real neighbors do. They help each other in a crisis, ”he said. “We are going to get all the vaccines you can give us, this is fabulous news.”
The Biden government said that once US citizens are vaccinated, the next step is to ensure that Canada and Mexico are able to control the pandemic so that borders can be reopened.
Although Canada’s economy is strongly interconnected with that of the United States, Washington has not allowed any of the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses made in America to be exported so far, and Canada has had to turn to Europe and Asia.
The difficulties in the vaccine supply chain have forced Canada to extend the time between the first injection and the second by up to four months, so that everyone can be protected more quickly with the primary dose. The hope is to get all adults to have at least one dose by the end of June.
Canadian regulators have approved the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but acquiring them has proved difficult.
Canada occupies about 20th place in the number of doses administered, with more than 8% of the adult population receiving at least one injection. This compares to almost 45% in the United Kingdom and almost 30% in the United States. Mexico ranks 10th in the number of doses administered, with 3.3% of the total population receiving at least one injection.
AstraZeneca is among the vaccines that have received emergency approval in Mexico, and Mexico already has 870,000 doses of that vaccine. It also has Pfizer, SinoVac and Sputnik V for a total of more than 8 million doses. One million doses of SinoVac arrived from Hong Kong on Thursday.
The stock of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the United States has also sparked controversy with other allies. The 27 countries of the European Union found it difficult to approach Biden about sharing vaccine supplies so that the disease could be stopped abroad, which would not only help save lives, but would also improve global economic growth.
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Sherman reported from Mexico City and Gillies from Toronto.