The White House has announced to share 7 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines with Asian countries, including Bangladesh.
It is not clear how many doses Bangladesh will get from that. But the announcement came as a respite for Bangladesh which is struggling to manage about 1.5 million doses to complete second dose of as many people.
The delivery will take time to complete all the process, but President Joe Biden has directed the Administration to use all the levers of the U.S. government to protect individuals from this virus as quickly as possible.
Bangladesh and other Asian countries were putting intense pressure on the US administration to share its vaccine since Washington was sitting on a stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines.
The White House earlier on April 26 announced that it would share around 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine with the world. Later, it added additional 20 million doses to be shared with the world.
With the Thursday’s announcement, the White House shared plans to allocate the first 25 million doses to be shared globally.
“Approximately 7 million for Asia to the following countries and entities: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands,” it said.
According to the plan, the United States will share at least three-quarters of its donated doses through COVAX, supplying U.S. doses to countries in need.
“This will maximize the number of vaccines available equitably for the greatest number of countries and for those most at-risk within countries. For doses shared through COVAX, the United States will prioritize Latin America and the Caribbean, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa, in coordination with the African Union.
“The United States has received requests for vaccines from countries all over the world. The U.S. will share up to one-quarter of its donated doses directly with countries in need, those experiencing surges, immediate neighbors, and other countries that have requested immediate U.S. assistance.”
The sharing of millions of U.S. vaccines with other countries signals a major commitment by the U.S. government.
