Sen. Brown urges U.S. secretary of state to vaccinate Americans living abroad

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Jul. 3—WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, on Thursday led a bipartisan letter calling on U.S. Sec. of State Antony Blinken to support COVID-19 vaccination efforts for the nine million Americans living abroad.

The senators urged the administration to donate supplemental doses to U.S. embassies and consulates in coordination with the Department of Defense, prioritizing the vaccination of Americans living in countries where they are considered ineligible or in those that are not distributing vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization.

"While the country is quickly approaching its target of vaccinating 70 percent of adults based in the U.S., vaccination rates around the world vary significantly. Around 85 percent of shots administered so far have been in high- and upper-middle-income countries, while only 0.3 percent of doses have been administered in low-income countries," the senators wrote to Blinken. "While Americans abroad are eligible to receive vaccines in some countries, in others, Americans are ineligible as non-citizens."