US allocates 19M doses of first tranche of vaccine donations to COVAX

The United States on Thursday announced how it will distribute 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses — the first tranche of its pledged 80 million dose donation.

Nearly 19 million doses will be shared through COVAX — the global procurement mechanism led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — the White House announced. They will be allocated regionally with approximately 6 million doses going to Latin America and the Caribbean, 7 million to Asia, and approximately 5 million to Africa.

The recipients in Latin America and the Caribbean are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, other Caribbean Community countries, and the Dominican Republic.

In Asia, vaccines will go to India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands.

African nation recipients “will be selected in coordination with the African Union,” the White House said.

The remaining doses, numbering over 6 million, will be given directly to countries and territories. Those include Mexico, Canada, South Korea, the West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, India, Iraq, and Yemen. Doses will also be given to United Nations front-line workers.

“In the days to come, as we draw on the experience of distributing the vaccine doses announced today, we will have more details to provide about how future doses will be shared,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Why this matters: There is a global shortage in the supply of COVID-19 vaccines. COVAX faces a supply shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June as the Serum Institute of India, a major supplier to the initiative, allocated its supply domestically as India suffers a deadly surge of COVID-19 infections.