The United States will begin shipping 500 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to 100 lower-income countries later this month, US President Joe Biden has announced. He said the US has already donated more than 110 million doses of the vaccine. The United States will continue to donate tens of millions of doses over the summer, including the planned 500 million, Biden said, adding that the United States expects nothing in return. “We are not selling them. “These vaccine donations from America are free,” he said, speaking at the White House on August 3.
President Biden assured Americans that there would be more vaccines available and again called on citizens to be immunized against COVID-19. Among the 65 countries that have received vaccines from the US so far are Afghanistan, which has received 3.3 million doses; Pakistan, 5.5 million; Uzbekistan, 3 million and Ukraine, 2 million doses.
Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are among the countries that will benefit from US vaccines. In May, Biden vowed that the U.S. would donate at least 80 million vaccines to countries around the world. He said on August 3 that this promise has been fulfilled.
The United States has shipped vaccine doses primarily through COVAX, a global scheme designed to distribute vaccines evenly to poor countries. COVAX, backed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, says it needs 2 billion doses by the end of the year. The pandemic has killed at least 4.2 million people globally, including 613,679 people in the United States, more than in any other country, followed by India with 425,000 recorded deaths, according to data published by Johns Hopkins University. / REL
