U.S. to send over 6 million vaccines to Latin America this month, including Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Biden administration announced the destination of 31% of the 80 million doses it has pledged to distribute worldwide, part of which will be directed
to the region. The amount each country will receive is not yet known.

The United States will send the first 25 million coronavirus vaccines to the neediest countries, almost a third of the 80 million doses it will donate until the end of June.

The White House announced Thursday, June 3, that over 6 million doses will soon be sent to a dozen Latin American countries, including Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Most of Washington’s donations will be distributed through the Covax facility, the international platform created by the World Health Organization to ensure that all countries are provided with doses, irrespective of their income level.

“As long as this pandemic lasts anywhere in the world, the American people will remain vulnerable,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Thursday. “The U.S. pledges to provide the same urgency for international vaccination efforts as we demonstrate at home.”

The country has fully vaccinated 41.5% of its population so far, and over 63% of adults have been administered at least one dose.

Of the 25 million doses that the U.S. will distribute, nearly 19 million will be sent through the Covax facility. Washington will deliver the remaining vaccines directly to countries “in need, those experiencing a sudden surge [of cases], immediate neighbors,” and other countries that have requested U.S. assistance.

To select them, the Democratic administration has favored territories that prioritize vaccinating people most at risk of serious illness and health care workers.

Six million of the doses distributed through the Covax scheme will be directed to Central and South America. The White House did not specify how much each country will receive, but the beneficiaries are known to be Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and others in the Caribbean.

About 7 million vaccines will be sent to 15 Asian countries, such as India, and about 5 million to Africa. Within the 6 million doses that Washington has decided to donate on its own, not as part of Covax, Mexico, Canada, and Gaza are on the list of favored countries, in addition to frontline United Nations workers.

The Biden administration has been under pressure for months to share the billions of leftover doses in the U.S. Announcements of donations began as death cases in the country declined dramatically and poor countries faced new outbreaks.

Washington’s cooperation with the Covax facility comes at a time when the World Health Organization initiative has delivered only 76 million of the 2 billion doses it plans to distribute among low- and middle-income countries.

Source: El Pais