Biden to send U.S. authorized vaccines abroad for first time

President Joe Biden plans to send an additional 20 million doses of U.S. coronavirus vaccines abroad by the end of June including, for the first time, shots authorized for domestic use, where supply is beginning to outstrip demand. /Getty Images

PresidentJoe Bidenplans to send an additional 20 million doses of U.S. coronavirus vaccines abroad by the end of June including, for the first time, shots authorized for domestic use, where supply is beginning to outstrip demand,Bloomberg News reports.

Biden will announce Monday that he'll export 20 million doses of vaccines fromPfizer Inc.,Moderna Inc.orJohnson Johnson, on top of 60 millionAstraZeneca Plcdoses he had already planned to give to other countries, according to a senior administration official familiar with the plan.

A fortnight ago, the Biden administration, sided with some world leaders over the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, in favor of waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines.

The United States had been a major holdout at the World Trade Organization over a proposal to suspend some of the world economic body's intellectual property protections, which could allow drug-makers across the globe access to the closely guarded trade secrets of how the viable vaccines have been made.

Biden had come under increasing pressure to throw his support behind the proposal, drafted by India and South Africa and backed by many congressional Democrats.

(With input from agencies)