A White House spokesperson said the United States will send 1.5 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines against COVID-19 to Nepal, and half a million doses of Moderna will go to Bhutan. According to UNICEF, on Friday more than 1.4 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines donated by the United States arrived in Afghanistan.
The second batch of preparations for Afghanistan, as part of the COVAX programme, is expected to arrive later this month. A total of 3.3 million doses will be delivered from the United States to the country.
The administration of President Joe Biden said it would hand her over 80 million vaccines for countries most in need of such support. It will include Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea and Cambodia.
Washington also announced that it would buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for the African Union and 92 other low and middle income countries.
In the opinion of Reuters The United States is competing with China for geopolitical influence through so-called vaccine diplomacy Although the United States claims to be sharing the preparations on humanitarian grounds.
COVAX is a vaccine access program for developing countries, jointly led by Gavi, the Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, and the World Health Organization.
