White House says U.S. plans to send 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Canada

The United States plans to send roughly 4 million doses of theAstraZenecaCOVID-19 vaccine that it is not using to Canada and Mexicothrough loan deals with the two countries,the White House confirmed today.

White House press secretary Jen Psakitold reporters that a number of countries, including Canada and Mexico, have asked the U.S. for doses of theAstraZenecavaccine, but those loan deals are still being worked out.

Psaki confirmed today that the U.S. has "sevenmillion releasable doses" of theAstraZenecavaccine "available."

"2.5 million of those, we are working to finalize plans to lend those to Mexico, and 1.5 million to Canada," she said.

"It's not fully finalized yet.It's our aim and what we're working toward,to Canada and Mexico. It's a complex process and our team is working with the companies to move it forward."

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U.S. offers 1.5M COVID-19 vaccines to Canada

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The U.S is offering to send up to 1.5 million AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine doses to Canada as it awaits FDA approval. And though the additional vaccines will help Canada catch up, the Americans say they will want the loan returned down the road.

Procurement Minister Anita AnandtoldCBC News Network's Power & PoliticsThursday that the federal government is in talks with the U.S. now to finalize the agreement.

"In terms of the arrangement, what we are contemplating is that we will receive these 1.5 million doses now and that when we receive our 20 million doses of AstraZeneca in Q2 and Q3, we will then provide 1.5 million back to the United States in asortofswap transaction," she told host Vassy Kapelos.

Anand said the federal government is expecting to receive the doses "likely before the end of the month" but must first work out some of the logistical issues involved in bringing them here.

Canada has contracts for 20 million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and another two million of the same vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.

Biden under pressure to share surplus doses

"This virus has no borders," a U.S.official told Reuters on condition of anonymity earlier in the day. "We only put the virus behind us if we're helping our global partners."

The "releasable" vaccines are ready to be used once they arrive, Reuters reported.Under the deal, the United States will share doses with Mexico and Canada now with the understanding that they will send the United States doses in return. The official said that would take place later this year.

The Biden administration has come under pressure from allies worldwide to share vaccine doses particularly theAstraZenecavaccine, which is authorized for use in other countries but not yet cleared for use in the United States.

AstraZeneca has millions of doses made in a U.S. facilityand has said that it would have 30 million shots ready at the beginning of April.

The deal does not affect President Joe Biden's planto have vaccine doses available for all adults in the United States by the end of May, an official told Reuters. The deal is likely to be announced publicly in the coming days.

Two officials said the vaccine would be delivered in "short order" once the deal was completed, but they declined to give a more specific timetable.

The Associated Press also quoted an unnamed official sayingthat a loan deal for2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million to Canada is in the works.

U.K./ EU clearAstraZeneca

News of the loan deal comes as the United Kingdom's drug regulator reports that a "rigorous scientific review" has ruled out the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as the cause of blood clots in veins. The regulator is doing a more detailed study looking at blood clots in the brain.

The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency saidthe benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any risks.

The European Medicines Agencyalso cleared the AstraZenecavaccine todayfollowing an investigation into 30 cases of unusual blood disorders. The agency determinedthat the vaccine's benefits in protecting people from coronavirus-related death or hospitalization outweighs the possible risks, though a link between blood clots in the brain and the vaccine could not beruled out.

The agency's review covered 20 million people given the AstraZeneca shot in the U.K. and the European Economic Area (EEA), which links 30 European countries.

Safety concerns led at least 13 European countries, including France, Germany and Italy, to stop administering the shot, slowing an already faltering inoculation campaign in the EU, which lags Britain and the United States.

Marc-Andr Gagnon, a pharmaceutical policy expert at Carleton University, saidthe U.S. is likely sharing the vaccinenow because ofthe worrying prospect ofcoveted doses languishing in a U.S. warehouse and going to waste.

Steve Morgan, apharmaceutical expert at the University of British Columbia, also told CBC News that the Biden administration is motivated to share its stockpile of AstraZenecabecause the doses are likely to expire soon.

"Frankly, the Biden administration would far rather loan these vaccines to neighbours than wear the potential disaster of having millions of vaccines expire in the U.S.," he said.

You can watch full episodes of Power & Politics on CBC Gem, the CBC's streaming service.