(Reuters)

Honduras will receive 1.5 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States on Sunday (June 27) as part of an initial delivery of doses through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing programme, White House officials told Reuters.

The shipment is part of 80 million US doses that President Joe Biden has pledged to share with other countries around the world either directly or through the COVAX programme.

“We are sharing vaccines with Honduras because it’s the right thing to do from a global public health perspective, and right for our collective security and well-being in the region,” said Juan Gonzalez, senior director for the Western Hemisphere on the White House National Security Council, in a statement shared with Reuters.

“Scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities from both countries have worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective vaccine lots to Honduras,” another White House official said.

On Monday the White House laid out its plan to share 55 million of the pledged 80 million US COVID-19 vaccine doses globally, with roughly 75 per cent of the doses allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa through the COVAX programme.

Some 14 million doses were earmarked for Latin American and Caribbean countries including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, Dominican Republic, Panama, and Costa Rica.