United States to provide 13m COVID shots to South Asia, other regions

However, the White House said that a separate 6 million vaccines would be provided to India aimed to help countries exposed to the virus.

According to a report in a local newspaper, Pakistan and Bangladesh will also get their share of the 7 million vaccines allocated for distribution in South and Southeast Asia.

Under the new program, the United States will donate 75% of its unused vaccines to the UN-backed Covax global vaccine sharing programme.

The White House announced that of the first instalment of 25 million vaccines, 19 million will be given to Covax.

Joe Biden said in a statement from his office that 6 million jabs would go to Latin America and the Caribbean, 7 million to South and Southeast Asia and 5 million to Africa.

"We are not giving these vaccines to get benefits or privileges, we are distributing these vaccines to save lives and help the world to eradicate the epidemic," he said.

"The United States is focusing on vaccinating every American, but we also recognize that eradicating this epidemic means eradicating it everywhere, as long as the epidemic continues to spread anywhere in the world," he said.

He said the US is committed to accelerating international vaccination efforts, which he also expressed at the local level.

In total, the White House is to distribute 80 million vaccines globally by the end of this month, most of which will be given to COVAX, but the United States will retain 25% for emergencies and to share directly with allies and partners.