U.S. Plans To Send AstraZeneca Vaccines To Mexico, Canada

The Biden administration is working on plans to send about 4 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to neighboring countries as a loan, the White House announced Thursday.

According to the Associated Press, the Biden administration has been developing plans to distribute AstraZeneca vaccines to other countries on a “loan” that would involve sending 2.5 million vaccines to Mexico and 1.5 million vaccines to Canada. The AstraZeneca vaccine hasn’t been authorized for emergency use in the United States, meaning that the supply owned by the government has stayed idle even as other countries have begun to publicly administer it. According to ABC News, the U.S. currently owns about 10 million AstraZeneca vaccines.

“Our first priority remains vaccinating the U.S. population,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during a press conference Thursday. She also remarked that “ensuring our neighbors can contain the virus” is “mission-critical to ending the pandemic.”

Psaki, who noted other countries have requested AstraZeneca vaccines from the U.S., said the tentative plans involve “assessing how we can loan doses” to other countries.

“That is our aim, it’s not fully finalized yet, but that is our aim and what we’re working toward — to Canada and Mexico. This is a complex process, and our team is working with the companies to move it forward,” added Psaki.

While The Washington Post, citing senior officials in Mexico and the U.S., reports that the U.S. has already agreed to provide Mexico with vaccines, it’s unclear whether the plans have actually been finalized or when such an exchange would take place. Psaki said Thursday that a tentative vaccine arrangement with other countries could involve the U.S. receiving AstraZeneca doses at a later date, or possibly non-AstraZeneca doses.

According to WUSA9, AstraZeneca is weeks away from having enough clinical trial data to submit an FDA emergency authorization application, which, once submitted, can lead to several more weeks of waiting before regulators determine whether to authorize it.

The Biden administration’s announcement comes as a regulator in the European Union determined in a review that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, despite scattered reports of blood clots that prompted some European countries to put a hold on inoculations.

“[T]the benefits of the vaccine in combating the still widespread threat of COVID-19 (which itself results in clotting problems and may be fatal) continue to outweigh the risk of side effects,” announced the European Medicines Agency late Thursday afternoon.

“[T]he vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots (thromboembolic events) in those who receive it,” they said. “[T]here is no evidence of a problem related to specific batches of the vaccine or to particular manufacturing sites.”

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Slovenia now plan to resume AstraZeneca inoculations in the coming days, according to the German news site Deutsche Welle. Various European officials have announced plans to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine themselves to boost confidence in its safety, including the French prime minister and the leadership of the Latvian government.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday, prior to the EMA safety announcement, that he was still going to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine himself “very shortly,” according to NBC News. The United Kingdom was not one of the countries that put AstraZeneca inoculations on hold.

However, Norway and Sweden, two countries that suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccines, have said they will wait for more information before making a decision on AstraZeneca vaccinations, reports Deutsche Welle.

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