WASHINGTON (AP) – Millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines are in refrigerators in the United States and cannot be injected in the states because they have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, but the Biden administration does not allow them to be sent abroad, where American allies struggle to get enough doses for vulnerable populations.
AstraZeneca’s two-dose vaccine received emergency approval the European Union and the World Health Organization, but not in the USA. Now, US partners are encouraging President Joe Biden to release the supply, noting that the government has aligned enough doses of the three vaccines already approved to cover all American adults by the end of May. and the entire US population by the end of July.
AstraZeneca said that vaccines produced in the United States are “owned” by the U.S. government and that sending them abroad requires approval by the White House.
“We understand that other governments may have contacted the US government about donating AstraZeneca doses, and we ask the US government to carefully consider these requests,” said Gonzalo Viña, a spokesman for AstraZeneca, in a statement.
The ambassadors of the EU member states this week discussed the challenge of accessing doses produced in the United States of AstraZeneca vaccines. The German government said on Friday that it is in contact with US officials about the supply of vaccines, but stressed that the European Commission has the lead when it comes to obtaining vaccines for member countries.
Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen guided the representatives to discuss supply chains for vaccine production.
“Hopefully, we will be in a position on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure that sufficient doses of vaccine are distributed according to the schedule, in order to complete vaccination campaigns,” said the EU commission spokesman, Eric Mamer.
Although not approved in the USA, well over 10 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine are stored in the country for domestic use and cannot be exported under the company’s agreement with the federal government.
“We have a small stock of AstraZeneca, so if approved, we can send that stock to the American people as quickly as possible,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients on Friday, saying the United States was following the same procedure used for photos already approved.
Drug makers who received federal assistance to develop or expand the manufacture of vaccine doses were forced to sell their first doses to the United States. In the case of AstraZeneca, whose vaccine was initially expected to be the first to receive federal authorization for emergency use, the US government ordered 300 million doses – enough for 150 million Americans – before problems with the vaccine’s clinical trial. prevent their approval in the United States
The company said this month that it believes it will have about 30 million doses available to the U.S. government by the end of March, and another 20 million by the end of April.
As foreign regulators moved forward with the approval of the injection, the United States has not abandoned its contractual claim on the initial doses produced in the United States.
This policy was also criticized by neighbors in the United States, such as Canada and Mexico, who were forced to seek vaccines manufactured on a different continent, rather than the border. Its application occurs when the Biden government bought enough doses of Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson to inoculate 150 million more people than its population by the end of the year.
The United States has also ordered 110 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, which is expected to be sent for emergency approval as early as next month.
“We want to have supplies and be prepared in excess,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday, saying that Biden wanted contingencies in case of any unforeseen problems with the existing production schedule.
“We still don’t know which vaccine will be most effective in children,” she added. “We still don’t know the impact of the variants or the need for booster doses. And these doses can be used for booster injections, as well as necessary. Obviously, this is still being studied by the FDA, but again we want to be overly prepared. “
Pressed on Thursday about the situation at AstraZeneca, Psaki said: “We broadcast in particular what we broadcast publicly, that our focus is on ensuring that the American people are vaccinated.”
AstraZeneca’s 30,000-person test in the United States did not complete enrollments until January. The company has given no indication as to when the initial results may be ready, other than an executive with the declaration by the US division of AstraZeneca to Congress last month that he expected it to be “soon”.
Amid its faltering implementation of vaccines, the EU seems increasingly resigned to the administration of Biden while maintaining dose control.
Although the 27-nation bloc is eager to relaunch a fruitful transatlantic relationship after Trump’s blunt presidency, cooperation between the EU and the US proves to be a thorny issue, with some in Europe seeing it as a continuation of the former president Donald Trump’s “America First” approach.
The EU is at odds with AstraZeneca because the company is delivering far fewer doses to the bloc than it had promised. From the initial order for 80 million doses to the EU in the first quarter of this year, the company will struggle to deliver half that amount.
Despite the shortage at home and often being accused of vaccine protectionism, the 27-nation bloc has allowed the export of more than 34 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in recent weeks, including 953,723 vaccines to the United States.
Meanwhile, Russia and China, whose leaders do not face voters in free and fair elections, used their domestically produced shots to gain strategic advantage.
China has pledged about half a billion doses of its vaccines to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country count by The Associated Press. Four of China’s many vaccine manufacturers say they will be able to produce at least 2.6 billion doses this year.
Russia sent millions of doses of its Sputnik V vaccine to countries around the world, while vaccinating its own population. Analysts say the goal of this vaccine diplomacy is to reinforce Russia’s image as a scientific, technological and benevolent power, especially as other countries face shortages of COVID-19 vaccines because the wealthier nations are collecting Western-made versions.
Israel, which vaccinated more than half of its population with Pfizer vaccines produced in Europe, also tried to use vaccine diplomacy to reward allies.
Biden moved the US to contribute financially to the COVAX alliance, supported by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, which will help share the vaccine with more than 90 low and middle income countries, but has not yet pledged to share any doses. .
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Casert and Petrequin reported from Brussels. Danika Kirka in London, Frank Jordans in Berlin and Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed.
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