Let our doses go!

The F.D.A. has indicated that it wants to see results from AstraZeneca’s ongoing U.S. trial before considering the vaccine for emergency use authorization. Judging by previous approval processes, we are at least one month, if not more, away from the earliest possible date for giving Americans shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine. That would be late April or even May — when there will be plenty of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine for American adults…

In the meantime, South America is experiencing a resurgence of cases and only about 5 percent of the continent’s population has received any vaccine. The number is less than 1 percent for all of Africa…

Letting our excess doses do some good in the world now is also smart politically after the previous administration did so little to engender good will around the world.

While the United States is holding onto more vaccines than it needs, both China and Russia have been engaging in “vaccine diplomacy” — distributing vaccines as part of their political outreach. At the same time, Chinese state media outlets and, reportedly, Russian-government- linked sources have been casting baseless doubts on Western vaccines.