Reuters/Dado Ruvic
- Tens of millions of doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine are currently stored in US warehouses.
- The vaccine is approved in more than 70 countries, many in Europe, but not in the US.
- AstraZeneca had asked the US to loan doses to the EU, but one official told Reuters the US said "no way."
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The US is sitting on millions of unused doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and refusing to give them to other countries who may need it more, The New York Times and Reuters reported.
The vaccine is approved in more than 70 countries, but not in the US.
Thirty million doses of the vaccine, ready for use, are currently stored in a facility in Ohio, one official told The Times.
Another company in Maryland, Emergent BioSolutions, has produced enough vaccine for tens of millions of doses to be packaged, the official said.
Officials have raised concerns about the doses' shelf life, as the vaccine cannot be stored indefinitely, The Times reported.
Yet the White House is holding onto these doses as several other countries struggle with supply.
AstraZeneca had asked the US to loan doses to the EU, The Times reported, as manufacturing issues have meant the company has not met its contractual supply target to the bloc.
But one official directly involved in US-EU talks told Reuters: "The US told us there was no way it would ship AstraZeneca vaccines to the EU," without giving a reason.
But Margaret Cekuta, a former US trade official who now works as a lobbyist, told Reuters: "The vaccine isn't approved in the United States, so of course we can't sell it to other countries yet," adding that exporting a vaccine before it's approved by the Food and Drug Administration could raise potential liability issues.
President Joe Biden has suggested that he would prioritize vaccinations for Americans. Talking on Wednesday about the US vaccine supply in general, he said "We're going to start off and ensure Americans are taken care of first, but we're then going to try to help the rest of the world."
On Thursday, he also pledged that all American adults would be eligible for a shot by May 1.
AstraZeneca has not yet applied for FDA approval of its vaccine. It is likely waiting for the end of phase 3 trials in the US, which are expected in the coming weeks, The Times reported.
AstraZeneca's vaccine rollout was stunted this week after several European countries suspended the use of the shot, citing investigations into several cases of blood clots among people who had received it.
Many low-income countries have also not received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.