WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Thursday it will donate by month’s end millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Latin America and the Caribbean, where increased movement between countries and relaxed public health measures are causing the deadly coronavirus and its variants to spread.
While the United States has about 51% of its population vaccinated, the rest of the region continues to see mounting infections and hospitalizations amid low vaccination rates. The World Health Organization and its regional arm, the Pan American Health Organization, have been pleading for months that the U.S. and other rich countries with surplus vaccines share their extra supplies with poorer countries.
The bulk of the 25 million U.S. doses will be given through the U.N.-backed vaccine global access platform known as COVAX, which is aimed at getting shots in the arms of people in poor and middle-income countries. Of the 19 million doses that the administration said it would donate via COVAX, six million are directed at South and Central America nations as well as the Caribbean Community.
