United States is set to donate 500 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.
According to a source, the move seeks to make the US a major participant in getting other nations vaccinated.
The source added that President Joe Biden will publicize the news at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, this week.
The distribution will be done in bits with close to 200 million doses going out in 2021.
The remaining 300 million will be distributed in the first half of 2022.
All doses will go through COVAX, the international vaccine initiative, and will go to 92 low and lower-income countries as well as to the African Union.
According to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan yesterday, besides the purchase of Pfizer purchase, Biden is also expected to take part in a combined announcement with the G7.
The announcement will provide a comprehensive plan to end the pandemic which will be inclusive of a segment on vaccines.
Sullivan remarked that having the US play a leading role in global COVID-19 vaccine distribution is part of what Americans do in times of need.
He added that it would also be helpful to avert the future spread of the pandemic in the US.
“He does want to show rallying the rest of the world’s democracies — the democracies are the countries that can best deliver solutions for people everywhere. That goes for COVID-19 that goes for climate change, it goes for economic recovery and it goes for the basic human rights and human dignity of all people,” Sullivan said.
Biden had initially devoted to sharing 80 million vaccine doses inclusive of Pfizer with other countries.
The Biden administration last week publicized its plan to share the first 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with the rest of the world.
They also outlined a general basis for distributing at least 80 million doses by the end of June.
By Everlyne Bosibori
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