The White House Vaccine Task Force has rejected the proposal to donate unused doses of soon to expire surplus COVID-19 vaccines to other countries in need.

The Washington Post reports that with the expiration dates of the unused doses nearing, there has been a decline in the demand for COVID-19 vaccines by hospitals in California.

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.

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.

A white house official said 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,” the official was quoted by the newspaper to have argued.

(Xinhua/NAN)