President Joe Biden announced the the US will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. The package planned to be disseminated among the lower income countries through the global COVAX fund.
Over the next year, the population of 92 lower-income countries and the African Union will get the Pfizer anti-covid vaccines bought by the United States.
President Joe Biden was set to make the announcement Thursday. Two hundred million doses will be enough to fully protect 100 million people, the rest to be donated in the first half of 2022, said the national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
As Joe Biden embarks on his first foreign trip, he is aiming to show “that democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere,” according to the Washington Post.
The announcement comes a week after the White House unveiled its 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 at a time of glaring shortages abroad.
The US actively support the COVAX initiative
The White House has announced plans to share 80 million doses globally by the end of June, most through COVAX. In fact, a quarter of the nation’s excess will be kept in reserve for emergencies and for the US to share directly with allies and partners.
Washington has also directed doses to allies including South Korea, Taiwan and Ukraine, OutlookIndia has learned.
