US to donate 500 million additional Covid vaccines to the world

Biden will announce that US plans to donate 500 million Pfizer vaccines to rest of the world

NewsBharati    22-Sep-2021
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New Delhi, September 22: President Joe Biden will be announcing on Wednesday that US plans to donate 500 million Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines to the rest of the world, bringing the total commitment to 1.1 billion, said officials.
 
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Biden will declare this news at a virtual summit to be held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, where he will challenge world leaders to vaccinate 70% of every country by September 2022. The donations are to bes made "free of charge, no strings attached," said a senior administration official.
 
She added, "For every one shot we have administered in this country to date, we are now donating three shots to other countries."
 
In his first speech to the UN as president on Tuesday, Joe Biden told the delegates that the US had put more than $15 billion towards global Covid response and has shipped over 160 million doses to other countries.
 
 
 
India, too, will be resuming the export and donations of excess vaccines next month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had announced on Monday. This was before PM Modi is to visit the US, where the issue will likely be raised by President Biden.
 
India is the world's largest maker of vaccines overall. It stopped vaccine exports in April to focus on inoculating its own population as infections multiplied.
 
 
The government wants to vaccinate all of the 94.4 crore adults by December; it has, so far, given at least one dose to 61% of them.
 
The resumption of exports deliberations come ahead of PM Modi's visit to Washington starting Tuesday where vaccines are likely to be discussed at a summit of the leaders of the Quad countries - the United States, India, Japan and Australia.
 
India has donated close to 6.6 crore doses to almost 100 countries before the export halt.

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