White House rejects plans to donate expiring unused COVID-19 vaccines overseas: report

Los Angeles, U.S. | Xinhua | Though surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses in U.S. states will soon expire, the White House Vaccine Task Force rejected the proposal to donate unused doses to other countries, the Washington Post recently reported.

Health authorities and hospitals in Southern California have seen the demand for COVID-19 vaccines decline while the expiration dates of the unused doses are nearing. Therefore, a small group around San Diego put forward a plan to donate thousands of shots to Mexico, where the vaccination campaign was carried out quite slowly with a high infection rate, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

However, the White House task force has blocked such plans and similar efforts by local and state governments to donate leftover vaccines to other countries, according to the report.

“Vaccines in the United States are the property of the federal government, not the cities or states in which they are distributed. That means the federal government is liable for their use, and donation efforts must be run out of Washington,” the paper quoted White House officials as saying.

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Xinhua