US Set To Miss Global Vaccine Sharing Goal

WHO to set up hub to make vaccines in South Africa; Putin says COVID-19 trend getting worse, pushes revaccination; vaccinated Canadians to be exempted from quarantine from July 5; Turkey to ease virus curbs further on July 1

WASHINGTON

President Joe Biden is expected to fall short of his commitment to shipping 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses abroad by the end of June because of regulatory and other hurdles, officials said as they announced new plans on Monday for sharing the shots globally.

The White House announced the final allocations for the doses, with 60 million shots going to the global COVAX vaccine sharing alliance and 20 million being directed to specific partners.

But fewer than 10 million doses have been shipped around the world, including 2.5 million doses delivered to Taiwan over the weekend, and about 1 million doses delivered to Mexico, Canada and South Korea earlier this month.

Officials said that while the US-produced doses are ready, deliveries have been delayed due to US and recipient legal, logistical and regulatory requirements.

A White House official said shipments will go out as soon as countries are ready to receive the doses and the administration sorts out logistical complexities.