The United States will donate more than three million vaccines to Central America

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Washington (CNN) - The

United States will begin shipping more than 3 million additional covid-19 vaccines to certain Central American countries on Tuesday, a White House official told CNN.

The United States plans to send 1.5 million doses of Moderna's covid-19 vaccine to Honduras and 1.5 million doses to El Salvador through the global vaccination program called "Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access," or Covax, adding to previous shipments provided to both countries this year.

The United States will also provide 500,000 doses of Pfizer's covid-19 vaccine to Panama in a bilateral donation, the official said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Monday that the US will also ship 3 million covid-19 vaccines to Guatemala, after shipping 1.5 million doses of Moderna earlier this year. month.

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"Scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities from both countries have worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective vaccine batches to all three countries," said the official.

The shipments are part of an ongoing effort by the Biden administration to provide COVID-19 vaccines to other countries and reaffirm US leadership on the world stage.

Shipping the vaccines to Latin America will also serve to counter efforts by Russia and China to use their own state-funded vaccines to expand their influence in the region and around the world.

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The White House has said it has been monitoring and is concerned about efforts by Russia and China to use the vaccines for geopolitical gain.

Many countries, including those in Latin America, which has traditionally been an area of ​​influence of the United States, have been buying large quantities of Russian and Chinese vaccines to fill the gaps in their own vaccine deployments.

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In recent weeks, the United States has announced a series of vaccine shipments.

Psaki also said Monday that more than one million Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines will go to The Gambia, Senegal, Zambia and Niger.

"The United States continues its tremendous effort to donate COVID-19 vaccines from the US global supply," Psaki said, adding: "The shipments demonstrate that the United States is delivering on our promise to be a vaccine arsenal for the world, and we are proud to donate these doses to save lives and help those in need. "

El SalvadorHondurasvaccine against covid-19