WASHINGTON – United States President Joe Biden addressed a Covid-19 summit of world leaders yesterday with a promise to donate a “historic” extra 500 million vaccines to countries struggling to overcome the pandemic.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis,” he said.
“America will become the arsenal for vaccines as we were the arsenal for democracy in World War II.”
The pledge from Biden at the summit, held virtually from the White House, brings the total US commitment of donated vaccines to 1.1 billion – more than the rest of the world combined.
“We’ve already shipped 160 million of these doses to 100 countries,” said Biden.
“For every one shot we’ve administered to date in America, we’ve now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world.”
The new tranche of half a billion vaccines will be from Pfizer, and will go to low- and middle-income countries.
Biden is also challenging world leaders to vaccinate 70% of every country by September next year, said the White House in a statement.
“We need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitions,” he said in his opening remarks.
“We’re not going to solve this crisis with half-measures.”
He stressed that the surge in vaccines must only be donated, with no “political” strings attached – a veiled dig at China in particular.
After he spoke, Spain announced at the United Nations in New York that it is boosting its commitment to 30 million total vaccines, while Japan said it will increase its contribution to 60 million.
The US and other wealthy countries have been criticised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for their plans to roll out booster shots for elderly and high-risk populations, while much of the world faces a severe shortage of doses.
But, a senior US administration official told reporters that Washington is “proving that you can take care of your own, while helping others as well”.
On Tuesday, in his first speech to the UN as president, Biden told delegates that Washington has put more than US$15 billion (RM63 billion) towards the global Covid-19 response.
70% target
Despite the development of safe and highly effective vaccines in record-breaking time, huge disparities exist between nations with ample supply and others that have barely begun their immunisation campaigns.
Just 3.6% of Africa’s eligible population has been inoculated – compared with an average of more than 60% in Western Europe.
The summit – technically held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly – saw Biden and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield hosting a wide variety of health and foreign leaders.
They include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the heads of Britain, Canada, the European Union, Indonesia and South Africa.
The head of Gavi, the vaccine alliance working to distribute shots to poor countries, also attended.
Washington will seek to rally the world around goals including increasing vaccine supply; saving lives now by resolving the oxygen crisis, and access to testing, medicine and protective gear; and, improving future preparedness.
On vaccines, the White House is asking governments to “close the financing and supply gap for low-income countries/low-middle-income countries to reach 70% coverage” by next year’s UN General Assembly, it said in a statement.
While the latest global coronavirus wave peaked late last month, the disease continues to spread rapidly, particularly in the US, which is officially the worst-hit country.
Some 4.7 million people worldwide have died since the outbreak began in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources. – AFP, September 23, 2021
.jpg)
.jpg)
