"This is a decision that HHS made with Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca in complete collaboration," White House COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters during a press conference.
"Regulatory authorities in the UK, European Union, the World Health Organization have concluded that the benefits of using our vaccine to protect people from this deadly virus significantly outweigh the risks across all adult age groups," a spokesman for AstraZeneca said in a statement.
AstraZeneca Plc said a review of safety data for those who received its vaccine showed no evidence of increased risk of blood clots. The review covered more than 17 million people in Britain and the European Union.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said on Friday it would try to deliver 30 million doses to the EU by the end of March, down from a contractual obligation of 90 million and a previous pledge made last month to deliver 40 million doses.
AstraZeneca said in the document seen by Reuters that it is assuming the Halix factory will get the green light on March 25 and has pencilled in deliveries of nearly 10 million doses for the following week.
It added that the Permanent Vaccination authority recommended extending to the maximum 12 weeks the period between receiving the first and second doses of the vaccine.
"This is good news for older people who are waiting for a vaccine. They can now be vaccinated more quickly," the ministry said.
The vaccine was approved under Canada's interim order system, which allows for accelerated approvals similar to the US Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorizations.
Canada has secured access to 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said AstraZeneca had raised its target of supplies to the EU to 40 million doses from 31 million until the end of March, after a large cut last week.
Its original commitment was of at least 80 million doses, and possibly up to 120 million in the first quarter.
"I think we need to make sure that the vaccine supply that has been bought and paid for, procured for those in the UK, is delivered," Gove told LBC Radio.
"But of course, we're always going to work with our friends and neighbours, we have to make sure that we can do everything we can to help them."
The good news is that if the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved at the end of January, we expect at least 3 million vaccine doses for Germany in February.
The government also remained committed to its goal of vaccinating all willing citizens older than 80 years by the end of March, Spahn said.
The consignment arrived on a Royal Air Maroc flight from India, which began exporting the vaccine.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this week described the unequal access poor countries had to COVID-19 vaccines as a "catastrophic moral failure".
We received assurances from the European Commission president that Lithuania will be able to vaccinate 70% of population by early summer.
he challenge is about to change from vaccine shortages to setting up mass vaccinations, so that we use the time optimally and can fully reach collective immunity (by early July).
Negotiations are underway with an Indian manufacturer, Serum Institute, which can produce the American Novovax vaccine and has the ability to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine at the moment.
India will initially only ship the AstraZeneca vaccine, made by The Serum Institute,