June 3, 2021 6:04 AM By Brandon Lee and Alex Ruoff
The Biden administration is poised to announce which countries will get the first shipments of vaccines donated from the U.S.’s stockpile, amid the risk that more coronavirus variants will arise in countries lacking access to the vaccines, people familiar with the matter said.
The White House, which has faced pressure from a range of countries to share its vaccines, has settled on its plan and an announcement is imminent, according to the people, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity.
The planned recipients werenât immediately disclosed. The U.S. has said itâll send at least some of its doses to the Covax initiative, the World Health Organizationâs effort to buy and distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income nations. The U.S. has been consulting with Covax on its plan, one official said.