US to provide up to 10m AstraZeneca vaccine doses to other countries in coming weeks: White House

WASHINGTON --  The United States is expected to provide up to 10 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine to other countries in the coming weeks if and when the US Food Drug Administration (FDA) confirms its safety, the White House said Monday.

Spokesperson Jen Psaki made the remark as South Korea and other countries have been calling for US help in addressing vaccine shortages. South Korean officials said they were trying to reach a "vaccine swap" deal with the US.

"The FDA needs to go through a review to ensure the safety and it's meeting our own bar and our own guidelines. And we expect there to be approximately 10 million doses that could be released if or when the FDA gives its concurrence, which could happen in the coming weeks," she said in a daily press briefing.

She also said that the US may provide up to an additional 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that are currently in production and may be delivered in May or June.

"Given the strong portfolio of vaccines that the United States has already authorized and available in large quantity, including two two-dose vaccines and one one-dose vaccine, and given AstraZeneca is not authorized for use in the United States, we do not need to use AstraZeneca in our fight against COVID over the next few months," Psaki said.

Psaki also said the US will send emergency relief supplies, including raw materials for the AstraZeneca vaccine, to India to help address an ongoing spike there.

The supplies, however, do not include the vaccine itself and which countries will get vaccine support will be determined later, she said.

"Just to be clear, right now, we have zero doses available of AstraZeneca," Psaki said. "We're going to assess a range of requests, a range of needs around the world." (Yonhap)