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Which Countries Will Receive America's Donated Covid-19 Vaccine Doses?

U.S. President Joe Biden at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, on June 2, 2021.
U.S. President Joe Biden at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, on June 2, 2021.
Photo: Mandel Ngan (Getty Images)

The White House announced on Thursday that the U.S. will donate at least 80 million covid-19 doses to countries around the world by the end of June, with the first 25 million doses going out to nations in the very near future. But where exactly are the doses heading?

About 19 million of the first 25 million batch will be distributed through the global COVAX initiative, which helps streamline the process by identifying which regions need the most resources.

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Roughly 6 million doses will be allocated to Central and South America, according to the White House:

Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Haiti, and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, as well as the Dominican Republic.

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About 7 million doses will be allocated to countries in Asia:

India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, and the Pacific Islands.

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About 5 million doses will be shared with African countries that haven’t been selected yet, but will be determined through White House coordination with the African Union. The exact timetable for that coordination hasn’t been released yet.

The remaining 6 million doses that aren’t allocated through COVAX are being distributed to U.S. allies as well as areas identified as being most in desperate need, including Mexico, Canada, South Korea, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, India, Iraq, and Yemen, and a special batch for United Nations workers, according to a White House press release.

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The pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, even as things return to normal in wealthy countries like the U.S. and UK. But the pandemic won’t truly be over until a majority of the world’s population is vaccinated, and that’s going to take some serious work to get done.

Over 2 billion covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered around the world, with 443 million people fully vaccinated globally. But that’s just 5.7% of the world fully protected against covid. We’ve got quite a ways to go.