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White House rejects proposal to donate expiring unused COVID-19 vaccines overseas
The Xinhua reported according to the Washington Post that despite 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 reported Friday, 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 Xinhua said according to the report that 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.
The Washington Post quoted White House officials as saying: "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."
Source: xinhua
