“If we have a surplus, we will share it with the rest of the world,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday, speaking generally about the United States’ vaccine supply. “We will start by ensuring that Americans are served first.”
Johnson & Johnson, which has authorization for its vaccine in the United States, but has lagged behind in its production targets in both the United States and Europe, recently asked the United States to lend 10 million doses to the European Union, but the government Biden also denied that request, according to American and European officials.
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The European Union has suffered fierce criticism for “vaccine nationalism” and protectionism, which intensified last week when Italy blocked a small dose load for Australia, intensifying a tug of war against badly needed vaccines. Even so, the European Union has exported 34 million doses of coronavirus vaccines in recent weeks to dozens of countries, despite facing shortages at home.
While frustrations are mounting, some European officials blame the United States. European Council President Charles Michel said that the United States, along with Britain, “imposed a total ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced in its territory”. Asked on Thursday about the American supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters that vaccine manufacturers are free to export their products made in the United States while also meeting the terms of their contracts. with the government.
But, as the AstraZeneca vaccine was produced with the help of the Defense Production Act, Biden must approve the sending of doses abroad. Such a move could have huge negative political repercussions, while Americans still clamor for injections.
AstraZeneca is also likely to want liability protection for doses sent abroad, as it would in the United States if the vaccine were released.
Meanwhile, regulators in the United States are waiting for new data from AstraZeneca, expected in the coming weeks, from a Phase 3 trial involving 32,000 participants, mainly in the United States. AstraZeneca is unlikely to disclose results of an initial analysis of its data, as other vaccine manufacturers have done. Instead, it will wait for more statistically significant results after trial participants are monitored for longer for side effects and more people in the vaccine and placebo groups may have become ill, federal officials said. Experts believe the vaccine is unlikely to have a higher rate of effectiveness than the injection made by Johnson & Johnson, which uses similar technology and requires only one dose.