As Biden pledges 80 million Covid-19 vaccines for world, US expats in Asia ask ‘what about us?’

In a bid to counter China and Russia, the US president has vowed to donate 20 million Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots and 60 million AstraZeneca jabs to countries around the world

With nearly half of all Americans jabbed, the country has excess doses to give away. Some expats hope these shots will find their way into American arms, overseas

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US President Joe Biden, with Vice-President Kamala Harris in the background, announces the US will donate 80 million vaccine doses to the rest of the world. Photo: TNS

Published: 7:00am, 19 May 2021Updated: 7:15am, 19 May 2021

Mai Le in Boston does not know when her parents will be able to get vaccinated. The Vietnamese Americans went to Vietnam last January to visit family members and have been stuck there since.

With Vietnam now struggling with a fourth wave of Covid-19 that has infected more than 1,400 people in the past three weeks – accounting about a quarter of the country’s total tally – she fears they are vulnerable.

“I feel terrible. They should be vaccinated, not me. I’m younger, I’m healthier. They are in their seventies. They need it more than I do,” said Le, 42, an entrepreneur who has received both shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Adding to her worry is that her father has underlying health conditions that make him extremely vulnerable to lung infections.

Le has contacted her congressman to suggest the United States vaccinate overseas Americans like her parents but has not received a response. She thinks the State Department has a duty to ensure citizens overseas receive appropriate medical assistance, but does not hold out much hope.

“If my dad catches a cold, he can spend time in the intensive care unit for weeks. So imagine catching Covid, he’s a dead man. So yes, it is a priority, but that’s not how the US government thinks. They look at policies, pros and cons, costs and benefits,” she said.

She is unsure whether it is better for her parents to stay in Vietnam and wait for its vaccination programme to gather speed – with about 1 per cent of the population having received at least one shot its roll-out is the slowest in Southeast Asia – or whether they should risk being exposed on the near 30-hour flight home.