Biden Administration To Share Millions of AstraZeneca Vaccine To Mexico
Health personnel displays a vial containing a dose of the Covishield vaccine (Oxford-AstraZeneca) at Racing Club headquarters during the launch day of the second stage of the national vaccination plan on February 22, 2021 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From today, citizens over 80 years old and residents of nursing homes can be vaccinated against COVID-19. Ricardo Ceppi/Getty Images

The White House, through press secretary Jen Psaki, has earlier said U.S. President Joe Biden has made clear that he aims to ensure that the vaccines are accessible to every American, without any intent as of the moment to share doses to neighboring countries.

Psaki said that once that goal is achieved, they are happy to announce the next steps to the public.

However, the Biden administration is currently working to finalize plans to send around 2.5million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico, according to an NBC News report.

Meanwhile, 1.5 million doses would go to Canada as U.S. regulators wait on the company to provide more data on the vaccine's safety and efficacy.

This marks the first move of the U.S. to supply vaccines to other countries.

"We only put the virus behind us if we're helping our global partners," an administration official was quoted in an Independent report.

Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard said that details are yet to be known until Friday, noting that they have already made progress.

Ebrard said that they requested as many AstraZeneca vaccine doses as possible.

U.S. Vaccine Supply

The U.S. government under the Biden administration has procured 800 million doses from Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson.

The U.S. government has also placed an order of 110 million doses of vaccine from Novavax. The said vaccine candidate is seen to file an emergency authorization as soon as next month.

On the other hand, AstraZeneca's vaccine has not yet been authorized for use in the U.S. However, the company expects to share its late-stage U.S. study and apply for clearance in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca is one of the vaccine candidates that have received emergency approval in Mexico, with already 870,000 doses of the vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency announced on Thursday that AstraZeneca is safe to use in a number of countries, including Germany, France, and Italy, according to another NBC News report.

"Its benefits in protecting people from COVID-19, with the associated risks of death and hospitalization, outweigh the possible risks," Executive Director Emer Cooke was quoted in a news report.

Once AstraZeneca is cleared by U.S. regulators, the country could have a total of 300 million doses from the pharmaceutical company. This includes the seven million U.S. already has on-hand.

The U.S. trial of the vaccine did not complete enrollment until January. AstraZeneca has not given any idea when results might be ready.

The U.S. has been stockpiling the said vaccine which caused a slight rift with other nations. The German government earlier said that it was in contact with U.S. officials about the vaccine supply.

However, it noted that the European Commission has the upper hand when it comes to procuring shots, according to an Associated Press report.

AstraZeneca

The UK regulators have recently reported that there had been five cases of a rare type of blood clot in the brain among 11 million that have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This concern has caused some European countries to pause the distribution of the shot.

Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said that the use of the vaccine should continue while the five incidents of blood clots are being investigated, according to a Reuters report.

WATCH: Biden administration finalizing plans to share Covid vaccine doses with Mexico and Canada - from POLITICO