US to Send Canada and Mexico Four Million AstraZeneca Doses

ACCORDING to the White House on Thursday, March 18, the US will release four million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Canada and Mexico – representing the first time the US has directly supplied vaccines to another country.

Press secretary Jen Psaki revealed on Wednesday, March 17, that the US had “received requests from both Mexico and Canada and are considering those requests carefully.

“We are still in the midst of fighting the war against the pandemic, right here,” Psaki said.

At the time, she repeated the long-standing White House position, suggesting that President Joe Biden first wants to ensure that every American who wants to can get vaccinated.

Biden expressed his intention last week “to start off making sure Americans are taken care of first”.

However, the US has a stockpile of the AstraZeneca vaccine as it has not yet been approved in the US whereas it has in both Canada and Mexico. AstraZeneca has not formally asked for authorisation in the US and its trials are still ongoing.

Mexico will receive 2.5 million doses of the vaccine and Canada is to receive 1.5 million doses, the official said. Under the agreement, the countries must return any excess doses to the US.

Following a request from Mexico’s president, Andrews Manuel Lopez Obrador, that they receive an answer from the Biden administration before Friday, an official told Reuters: “We’re lending a portion of our releasable doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We only put the virus behind us if we’re helping our global partners.”

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