Iran Press/ America: The fate of those doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine is the subject of an intense debate among White House and federal health officials, with some arguing the administration should let them go abroad where they are desperately needed while others are not ready to relinquish them, according to senior administration officials.
AstraZeneca is involved in those conversations.
"We understand other governments may have reached out to the U.S. government about the donation of AstraZeneca doses, and we’ve asked the U.S. government to give thoughtful consideration to these requests," said Gonzalo Viña, a spokesman for AstraZeneca.
About 30 million doses are currently bottled at AstraZeneca’s facility in West Chester, Ohio, which handles fill-finish, the final phase of the manufacturing process during which the vaccine is placed in vials, one official with knowledge of the stockpile said.
Emergent BioSolutions, a company in Maryland that AstraZeneca has contracted to manufacture its vaccine in the United States, has also produced enough vaccine in Baltimore for tens of millions more doses once it is filled into vials and packaged, the official said.
But although AstraZeneca’s vaccine is already authorized in more than 70 countries, according to a company spokesman, its US clinical trial has not yet reported results, and the company has not applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization. AstraZeneca has asked the Biden administration to let it loan American doses to the European Union, where it has fallen short of its original supply commitments and where the vaccination campaign has stumbled badly.
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