US Pledges Half A Billion Pfizer Vaccines To Poor Countries
President Joe Biden announced that the United States is buying an additional half a billion Pfizer vaccines to donate to low and lower-middle income countries around the world.
Speaking at Virtual Global Covid-19 Summit Wednesday, Biden also announced the launch of the EU-U.S. vaccine partnership to work more closely with with its partners on expanding global vaccinations.
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will be convening foreign ministers later this year to check on collective progress. Biden proposed a second high-level virtual Covid summit in the first quarter of 2022.
“We’re working with partner nations, pharmaceutical companies, and other manufacturers to increase their own capacity and capability to produce and manufacture safe and highly effective vaccines in their own countries,” Biden told leaders. He cited the U.S Government’s Quad partnership with India, Japan, and Australia, which is on track to help produce at least 1 billion vaccine doses in India to boost the global supply by the end of 2022.
“And we’re providing financing and helping strengthen manufacturing in South Africa and produce more than 500 million doses of J&J in Africa, for Africa next year,” Biden added.
He also announced that the United States is providing an additional $370 million to support administering these shots and delivery globally. Washington will be providing more than $380 million to assist in the Global Vaccine Alliance – GAVI – to further facilitate vaccine distribution in regions with the greatest need.
Addressing the Summit, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the U.S. is contributing at least $250 million to establish a new Global Health Security Financial Intermediary Fund at the World Bank to coalesce resources for pandemic preparedness.
The EU and the United States, through the European Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority, and the Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, will expedite the development of new vaccines and make recommendations on enhancing the world’s capacity to deliver these vaccines in real time.
At the summit, which brought together heads of state and leaders from more than 100 countries online, the European Union pledged to donate more than 500 million doses of vaccine.
With 2785 new coronavirus casualties reporting on Wednesday, the U.S. total has increased to 681,222, as per the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
135611 additional cases took the national Covid infection toll to 42,547,004.
The number of people hospitalized in the country has declined to 91,189, according to data compiled by New York Times. It marks 10 percent decrease within a fortnight.
32,947,854 people have so far recovered from the disease in the country. 1,775,075 Covid tests were conducted among Americans Wednesday.
As per the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 182,387,840 people in the United States, or 54.9 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. This includes 83 percent of people above 65.
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