President Biden lays out America's plan to donate 500 million COVID-19 vaccines around the world
President Joe Biden urged global leaders Thursday to join him in sharing coronavirus vaccines with struggling nations around the world after he promised the U.S. would donate 500 million doses to help speed the pandemic맥스카지노s end and bolster the strategic position of the world's wealthiest democracies.
Speaking in England before a summit of the Group of Seven world leaders, Biden announced the U.S. commitment to vaccine sharing, which comes on top of 80 million doses he has already pledged by the end of the month. He argued it was in both America's interests and the world's to make vaccination widely and speedily available everywhere.
맥스카지노We맥스카지노re going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners," Biden said. He added that on Friday the G-7 nations would join the U.S. in outlining their vaccine donation commitments.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in The Times of London newspaper that it was now time for wealthy countries to 맥스카지노shoulder their responsibilities맥스카지노 and 맥스카지노vaccinate the world.맥스카지노 His country has yet to send any doses abroad or announce a solid plan to share vaccines. Johnson indicated Britain had millions of doses in surplus stocks.
Biden said the U.S. was sharing its doses 맥스카지노with no strings attached맥스카지노 or 맥스카지노pressure for favors.맥스카지노
맥스카지노We맥스카지노re doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic, and that맥스카지노s it,맥스카지노 he said.
Biden had faced mounting pressure to outline his global vaccine sharing plan, especially as inequities in supply around the world have become more pronounced and the demand for shots in the U.S. has dropped precipitously in recent weeks.
맥스카지노In times of trouble, Americans reach out to offer help,맥스카지노 Biden said, adding that the U.S. doses would 맥스카지노supercharge맥스카지노 the global vaccination campaign. "Our values call on us to do everything that we can to vaccinate the world against COVID-19.맥스카지노
The U.S. commitment is to buy and donate 500 million Pfizer doses for distribution through the global COVAX alliance to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, bringing the first steady supply of mRNA vaccine to the countries that need it most. A price tag for the 500 million doses was not released, but the U.S. is now set to be COVAX's largest vaccine donor in addition to its single largest funder with a $4 billion commitment.
The global alliance has thus far distributed just 81 million doses and parts of the world, particularly in Africa, remain vaccine deserts. White House officials hope the ramped-up distribution program can be the latest example of a theme Biden plans to hit frequently during his week in Europe: that Western democracies, and not rising authoritarian states, can deliver the most good for the world.
White House officials said the 500 million vaccines will be shipped starting in August, with the goal of distributing 200 million by the end of the year. The remaining 300 million doses would be shipped in the first half of 2022.
After leading the world in new cases and deaths over much of the last year, the rapid vaccination program in the U.S. now positions it among the leaders of the global recovery. Nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine dose and the average numbers of new positive cases and deaths in the U.S. are lower now than at any point since the earliest days of the pandemic.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last week projected that the U.S. economy would grow at a rate of 6.9% this year, making it one of the few nations for which forecasts are rosier now than before the pandemic.
U.S. officials hope the summit will conclude with a communique showing a commitment from the G-7 countries and nations invited to participate to do more to help vaccinate the world and support public health globally.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Wednesday that G-7 leaders are 맥스카지노converging맥스카지노 around the idea that vaccine supply can be increased in several ways, including by countries sharing more of their own doses, helping to increase global manufacturing capacity and doing more across the 맥스카지노chain of custody맥스카지노 from when the vaccine is produced to when it is injected into someone in the developing world.
Biden harked back to the Detroit-area workers who 80 years ago built tanks and planes 맥스카지노that helped defeat the threat of global fascism in World War II.맥스카지노
맥스카지노They built what became known as the arsenal of democracy,맥스카지노 Biden said. 맥스카지노Now a new generation of American men and women, working with today맥스카지노s latest technology, is going to build a new arsenal to defeat the current enemy of world peace, health and stability: COVID-19.맥스카지노
He noted that Pfizer's plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is not far from Detroit.
Last week, the White House unveiled plans to donate an initial allotment of 25 million doses of surplus vaccine overseas, mostly through the United Nations-backed COVAX program, promising infusions for South and Central America, Asia, Africa and others.
Officials say a quarter of that excess will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the U.S. to share directly with allies and partners, including South Korea, Taiwan and Ukraine.
China and Russia have shared, with varying success, their domestically produced vaccines with some needy countries, often with hidden strings attached. Sullivan said Biden 맥스카지노does want to show 맥스카지노 rallying the rest of the world맥스카지노s democracies 맥스카지노 that democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere.맥스카지노
The U.S.-produced mRNA vaccines have also proven to be more effective against both the original strain and more dangerous variants of COVID-19 than the more conventional vaccines produced by China and Russia. Some countries that have had success in deploying those conventional vaccines have nonetheless seen cases spike.
Biden맥스카지노s decision to purchase the doses, officials said, was meant to keep them from getting locked up by richer nations that have the means to enter into purchasing agreements directly with manufacturers. Just last month, the European Commission signed an agreement to purchase as many as 1.8 billion Pfizer doses in the next two years, a significant share of the company맥스카지노s upcoming production 맥스카지노 though the bloc reserved the right to donate some of its doses to COVAX.
Global public health groups have been aiming to use the G-7 meetings to press wealthier democracies to do more to share vaccines with the world. Biden's plans drew immediate praise.
Tom Hart, acting CEO at The ONE Campaign, a nonprofit that seeks to end poverty, said Biden맥스카지노s announcement was 맥스카지노the kind of bold leadership that is needed to end this global pandemic.맥스카지노
맥스카지노We urge other G-7 countries to follow the U.S.맥스카지노 example and donate more doses to COVAX,맥스카지노 he added. 맥스카지노If there was ever a time for global ambition and action to end the pandemic, it맥스카지노s now.맥스카지노
Others have called on the U.S. to do even more.
맥스카지노Charity is not going to win the war against the coronavirus,맥스카지노 said Niko Lusiani, Oxfam America맥스카지노s vaccine lead. 맥스카지노At the current rate of vaccinations, it would take low-income countries 57 years to reach the same level of protection as those in G-7 countries. That맥스카지노s not only morally wrong, it맥스카지노s self-defeating given the risk posed by coronavirus mutations.맥스카지노
Biden last month broke with European allies to endorse waiving intellectual property rules at the World Trade Organization to promote vaccine production and equity. But many in his own administration acknowledge that the restrictions were not the driving cause of the global vaccine shortage, which has more to do with limited manufacturing capacity and shortages of delicate raw materials.
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Miller reported from Washington. Lemire reported from Plymouth, England.