US President Joe Biden announced Monday that the US will send an additional 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to other countries, according to CNN. Along with sharing the 60 million doses the White House announced in April, the US has now committed to sharing 80 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine supply.
In April, the Biden administration committed to sharing up to 60 million of its AstraZeneca vaccine doses, which have not yet been granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While the US has pledged a total of $4 billion to fund COVAX, the vaccine pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, over the next two years, Biden has previously said the US would not share surplus doses from the United States’ approved vaccine supply until the country’s population was vaccinated.
Now, with Monday’s announcement, Biden has committed to sharing surplus supplies of the authorized Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, in addition to the AstraZeneca vaccine doses.
America will never be fully safe while this pandemic is raging globally. That’s why today, I’m announcing that over the next six weeks we will send 80 million vaccine doses overseas.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 17, 2021
It is the right thing to do. It is the smart thing to do. It is the strong thing to do.
“These are vaccinations and vaccines that are authorized to be put in arms of Americans and, by the end of June, when we'll have taken delivery of enough of such vaccines to protect everyone in the United States, the United States will share at least 20 million of those doses, that extra supply, with other countries,” Biden said, according to ABC. “This means over the next six weeks, the United States of America will send 80 million doses overseas.”
As part of the White House’s COVID-19 vaccination initiative, Biden initially set a goal of inoculating at least 70% of the US adult population with one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 4. To achieve this goal, Biden said there will be enough vaccine doses for every American adult to be vaccinated by the end of June, clearing the way for surplus doses to be shared with other nations.
Biden shared that almost 60% of all adults in the US have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, putting the White House 10% away from its July 4 goal, according to ABC.
As the world grapples with the fact that over 3.7 million people have died as a result of the coronavirus, vaccination efforts are progressing based on which countries are able to stock up on vaccine doses rather than who needs the most help.
India, which is heading into the fourth week of its second wave of COVID-19 infections, has struggled to progress its vaccination efforts despite being a global vaccine manufacturer, according to Reuters. Only 0.3% of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered around the world have been given in low-income countries.
For this reason, vaccine sharing is important to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic ends for everyone, everywhere.
Global Citizen is calling on G7 nations — particularly the UK, which holds the presidency of the G7 this year — to step up and provide more funding, vaccine doses, and technology for the world's poorest countries. At the G7 Leaders' Summit in June, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has the opportunity to join the effort to ensure vaccine equity and prevent the pandemic from taking an even deadlier toll on vulnerable populations around the world.