US to send US-authorized vaccines overseas for first time, Biden to announce

White House to send US-authorized vaccines overseas for first time President Biden will announce Monday that the U.S. Nathaniel Weixel TheHill

President Biden will announce Monday that the U.S. will share an additional 20 million doses of domestically authorized coronavirus vaccines with the rest of the world by the end of June, according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.

The vaccine exports will consist of doses from either Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson, which are the only three vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. 

The move is in addition to a previous commitment to send 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses overseas during May and June, as soon as they are cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.

saki noted the 80 million doses would be the most donated by any country, five times over. 

Biden has pledged that the U.S. will become an “arsenal” of global vaccine supply.

The announcement was first reported by Bloomberg, which also reported that the White House would put the administration's COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients in charge of the international COVID response.