WH says holding AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots for Americans
The New York Times reported this week that tens of millions of doses have already been produced in the United States and are sitting in production facilities unused.
AstraZeneca Plc is preparing to file for U.S. emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine later this month or early April after accumulating enough data to judge the inoculation's efficacy, sources with knowledge of the ongoing clinical trial told Reuters on Friday.
The U.S. stance could jeopardize AstraZeneca’s attempts to come closer to delivering on its contractual obligation with the EU of 180 million doses in the second quarter.
AstraZeneca told the EU earlier this year it would cut its supplies in the second quarter by at least half to less than 90 million doses, EU sources told Reuters, after a bigger reduction in the first three months of the year.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the government will first give Americans COVID-19 vaccines, but any surplus would be shared with the world.
"A number of countries... have requested doses from the United States and we have not provided doses from the U.S. government to anyone," Psaki said on Friday.
