The United States of America says it plans to ship up to 60 million AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses overseas, to help other countries struggling with a lack of doses to vaccinate their populations.
This was disclosed in a Tweet on Monday by White House Covid-19 Adviser, Andy Slavitt, stating that the vaccines would be sent to other countries “as soon as they become available”.
While the pandemic has spiked in India, with thousands dead, the country even with its medical advancement, has struggled to treat the virus.
President Joe Biden told India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi that the US is sending a range of supplies to India, including oxygen equipment, raw materials used in vaccine production, rapid testing kits, and the treatment Remdesivir.
Public health officials, lawmakers and world leaders have been urging the US to release some of its stockpile of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries that have cleared it for use while American reviews of safety and efficacy data continue.
Meanwhile, the AstraZeneca vaccine has suffered from delays after “very rare” incidents of blood clots and questions over the data the company submitted to the FDA.
