US to send 20 Million Covid-19 AstraZeneca Vaccine Doses for other Nations

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Most nations around the world are struggling to get vaccines and have turned to other world powers like China and Russia to secure doses. On Monday, President Joe Biden announced the US will send federally authorized 20 million Covid-19 vaccines to other countries, while about 37% of Americans are now fully vaccinated. It is part of the 60 million AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine doses the Biden administration committed to be sent to other nations by July. Point to be noted that America ordered enough vaccines to vaccinate its population twice, though many other countries are still struggling to secure them. A United Nations program backed by the US has delivered fewer than 70 million coronavirus vaccine doses worldwide when billions are still needed.

The WHO (World Health Organization) announced the world is at risk of vaccine apartheid. A foreign policy expert Eyck Freymann said in an interview with CBS News’ Holly Williams that the situation has left some of America’s friends and allies helpless. He said, “They can see it in the headlines that Americans are taking off their masks and getting back to normal life, and yet their grandmother is getting sick because she couldn’t get a vaccine”. Freymann further indicated that the country’s change in mask guidance is severely damaging the reputation of the developed world and it is a failure of American leadership. The medical contributor of the news outlet, Dr. David Agus said that other countries could create more Covid-19 variants if they don’t vaccinate and it is a danger to us all.

Agus said, “It is a moral imperative. It is a scientific imperative that we vaccinate the globe not only to help other people but to protect us”. Many nations are now turning to America’s rivals and giving them an opportunity to win hearts and minds. America has promised 80 million vaccine doses, though China and Russia have done deals to deliver around 600 million doses each globally. However, there are questions about the effectiveness of their vaccines. Freymann said that the announcement from President Biden to deliver those 80 million doses is a small step in the right direction, and the US can still turn this around. He said, “It is going to have hundreds of millions of extra doses to start exporting as it finishes vaccinating its own population”.