WASHINGTON – The United States will share 20 million more doses of its Covid-19 vaccines with the rest of the world by the end of June, said President Joe Biden yesterday.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the announcement came under mounting international pressure that Western wealthy nations that have stockpiled vaccines far more than they need should share more doses with countries struggling with the pandemic.
“We have the vaccine. We’ve secured enough supply to vaccinate all adults and children above the age of 12,” Biden said during a White House address.
“We know America will never be fully safe until the pandemic that’s raging globally is under control,” said Biden, whose administration had initially been reluctant to send any doses overseas.
World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus yesterday repeated his calls for manufacturers and high-income countries to share their doses with Covax.
“There’s a growing disconnect. Some countries with high vaccination rates appear to be in the mindset that the pandemic is over, while others are experiencing huge waves of infection. The pandemic is a long way from over, and it won’t be over anywhere until it’s over everywhere,” tweeted Tedros.
The vaccines Washington is to ship overseas will consist of leftover doses from either Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson, which are authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration to use in the country.
Earlier, the Biden administration had made commitment to send 60 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses overseas. The AstraZeneca’s shot has not been cleared by FDA yet.
Biden said on Monday that the 80 million doses will represent 30% of the vaccines produced by the US by the end of June.
As of yesterday morning, the US has administered more than 272 million Covid-19 vaccine doses and distributed more than 344 million, showed data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The US has bought enough vaccines to fully immunise 750 million people, three times the number of its adult population, reported Washington Post in March.
High- and upper-middle-income countries, with 53% of the world’s population, have received 83% of the world’s vaccines, while low- and lower-middle-income countries, with 47% of the world’s population, have received just 17% of the world’s vaccines, according to WHO’s data. – Bernama, May 18, 2021
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