Biden announces “no strings attached” donation of global vaccine | Coronavirus pandemic News

U.S. President Joe Biden has announced a donation 500 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses to help the world’s poorest countries accelerate the end of the pandemic, “without chaining”.

Biden, eager to burn his multi-faceted credentials on his first trip abroad, made the donation on Thursday as a bold move to show that the U.S. recognizes its responsibility to the world and its citizens.

“The United States provides half a billion doses without an attached chain. There is no attached chain,” Biden said, along with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla before speaking at the English naval station of Carbis Bay. G7 summit.

“Our vaccine donations have no pressure or potential concessions. We are doing this to save lives, end this pandemic, and that’s it,” he said.

The US is committed to buying and delivering 500 million doses of Pfizer worldwide COVAX an alliance with 92 low-income countries and the African Union.

Biden was under a lot of pressure to determine his global plan to share his vaccines, especially supply differences it is more pronounced around the world and the demand for shooting in the US is also higher he fell in recent weeks.

“Our view is very strong that due to poor coverage around the world, it is critical to make such a big move to get more vaccines into the system as soon as possible,” said Gayle Smith, General Coordinator of the U.S. State COVID Department.

“These vaccines will be available in August, even though we are already ruling out 80 million doses that have been announced,” he said at a news conference Thursday.

Officials said the goal is to distribute 200 million doses by the end of the year. The remaining 300 million doses would be shipped in the first half of 2022.

COVAX has so far distributed only 81 million doses and in some parts of the world, mostly in Africa, they have not yet received shipments.

The woman was receiving a vaccine dose at Yaba Mainland Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria [File: Sunday Alamba/AP Photo]

Several countries in Central America and South America, where there have been cases of COVID-19 rising again, have not yet made significant progress in vaccination campaigns.

Last week, Biden announced a sharing plan 25 million “surplus” vaccine doses. The White House has said most of the doses will go to COVAX, and that six million doses will go directly to countries.

After addressing the world in new cases and deaths in recent years, the fast-paced U.S. vaccination program now places it among the leaders in global recovery.

Take it 64 percent They have received at least one dose of vaccine among US adults and the average number of new positive cases and deaths in the US is now lower than at any time since the first days of the pandemic.

Oxfam’s anti-poverty campaign team has welcomed the announcement and called for more to be done to increase global vaccine production.

“Sure, these 500 million doses of vaccine are welcome, as they will help more than 250 million people, but that’s still a drop in the pack compared to the need around the world,” said Niko Lusiani, head of vaccination at Oxfam America.

“We need a transformation to a more distributed manufacturing of vaccines so that qualified producers around the world can generate billions more low-cost doses under their conditions, without intellectual property limitations,” Lusiani said in a statement.

Another obstacle, especially in poor countries, is the infrastructure for transporting vaccines, which often have to be stored at very cold temperatures.