KATHMANDU: The United States is dispatching 1.5 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) COVID-19 vaccine to Nepal and 500,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to Bhutan on Friday, Reuters news agency reported.
The shipments are part of US President Joe Biden’s pledge to distribute an initial batch of 80 million US-made vaccines globally to eliminate disparity in vaccination rates between advanced and developing countries.
Last week, the Biden administration announced plans to ship 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech to Malaysia, and 4 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to Indonesia, Reuters reported Friday. The US had announced plans to provide vaccines to other countries in Asia, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, among others.
In addition to the 80 million doses, Washington has said it will purchase 500 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to distribute to the African Union and 92 low and lower middle-income countries.
Although analysts have said that the US is engaged in vaccine-sharing competition with China, terming it vaccine diplomacy, the Biden administration said the initiative is focused on saving lives and ending the pandemic globally.
According to Reuters, a White House official said scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities had worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective vaccine lots to Bhutan and Nepal.
“We’re leading the world in a global vaccine strategy because it’s the right thing to do,” the official said. “It’s the right thing morally, the right thing from a global public health perspective, and right for our collective security and well-being.”
Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund Chief Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday urged the US, China and other Group of 20 major economies, whose finance officials are meeting in Venice this weekend, to accelerate access to vaccines around the world. Providing faster access to vaccinations could potentially save more than half a million lives in the next six months alone, the IMF chief said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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