U.S. President Joe Biden hosts a virtual coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Summit as part of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) from the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex in Washington, U.S., September 22, 2021.REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Ben Burke Producer

Politics

Biden promises to double US vaccine donation to 1 billion doses

Sep 22, 2021

Ben Burke Producer

By Ben Burke (Producer)

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday the United States would double its worldwide vaccine donation to 1 billion doses. The video above shows clips of the announcement.

“The United States is buying another half billion doses of Pfizer to donate to low and middle income countries around the world,” President Biden said. “This is another half billion doses that will all be shipped by this time next year.” The doses will start shipping in January.

“From January through September of next year, we will ship out 800 million vaccines to the world,” a senior Biden official said ahead of the announcement.

According to that official, before Wednesday’s vaccine donation announcement, the U.S. had committed to donating over 600 million doses around the world, 500 million of those being Pfizer doses.

“We’ve already shipped nearly 160 million doses to one hundred countries, more than every other country has donated combined,” Biden said.

The goal of the donation is to get 70 percent of the global population and 70 percent of the citizens of each nation to take the vaccine by next September’s U.N. meeting. However, the latest U.S. purchase reflects only a fraction of what will be necessary to meet that goal.

“We know that additional steps will be needed to help vaccinate the world, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” the Biden official said. “We’re working to further leverage U.S. manufacturing and production capabilities. We’re investing in raw materials needed to make vaccines. And we’re helping fuel production at home and abroad.”

Wednesday’s vaccine donation announcement highlighted President Biden’s “global COVID-19 Summit focused on ending the pandemic”. It was held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“Our goals for the summit are clear: We’re calling on world leaders and all sectors to do more collectively, measurably, on three specific areas. First, we need to vaccinate the world,” a different senior Biden official said ahead of the summit. “Second, we need to save lives now by solving the global oxygen crisis, making tests and therapeutics more available, and enhancing access to personal protective equipment. Third, we need to build back better, which means preparing for the next pandemic by establishing a sustainable health security financing mechanism and ensuring we have the political leadership we need for emerging threats.”

Tags: Joe Biden, Pandemic

Joe Biden, U.S. President: “We’ve all suffered. The United States has lost more than 670,000 of our fellow Americans. Worldwide, the death toll is above 4.5 million people, 4.5 million people. And this is a global tragedy. And we’re not going to solve this crisis with half measures or middle of the road ambitions. We need to go big and we need to do our part, governments, the private sector, civil society leaders, philanthropists. This is an all hands on deck crisis. And the good news is we know how to beat this pandemic: vaccines, public health measures and collective action.”

“But we also know that to beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere. And I made and I’m keeping the promise that America will become the arsenal of vaccines, as we were the arsenal for democracy during World War Two. We’ve already shipped nearly 160 million doses to one hundred countries, more than every other country has donated combined. America’s donations of a half a billion Pfizer vaccines through COVAX that I’ve announced before the G7 summit in June have already begun to ship. Today, I’m announcing another historic commitment. The United States is buying another half billion doses of Pfizer to donate to low and middle income countries around the world. This is another half billion doses that will all be shipped by this time next year.”

“The United States is leading the world on vaccination donations, we need, as we’re doing that, we need other high income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges. That’s why today we’re launching the EU-US Vaccine Partnership to work more closely together and with our partners in expanding global vaccinations.”

“And while vaccinating the world is the ultimate solution to COVID-19, we know that we have to act to save lives now. That’s why the United States has provided nearly 1.4 billion dollars to reduce COVID-19 deaths and mitigate transmission through bulk oxygen support, expanded testing and strengthening health care systems and more. And we’re going to help all of us build back better by supporting the establishment of a financial mechanism for global health security to, simply state it, to prepare for the next pandemic because there will be a next time. We all know that.”