The United States has reached an agreement with Pfizer to buy an additional 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to donate to various countries, according to the Biden administration.
President Joe Biden plans to announce the agreement Wednesday, a senior administration official told reporters on a call on Sept. 21.
“President Biden will announce that the U.S. is purchasing an additional 500 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to donate to low- and lower-middle income countries around the world,” the official, who was speaking to reporters on the condition they were not identified, said.
The tranche will be made in the United States and will start shipping out in January 2022.
The additional commitment means the United States has pledged to donate or has already donated 1.1 billion vaccine doses. That includes 500 million Pfizer doses that the United States bought over the summer and promised to send to countries the government said needed them.
So far, nearly 160 million doses have been sent out to 100 countries around the world, including Peru, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, El Salvador, and Ethiopia.
“The United States is donating 1.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the world, free of charge, no strings attached,” the official said. “This is a huge commitment by the U.S. In fact, for every one shot we have administered in this country to date, we are now donating three shots to other countries. One shot here today; three shots committed for the world. No other country, or group of countries, have come close to that.”
As with the first Pfizer tranche, the United States is paying a price that was not specified but was described as a “not-for-profit price.” They’ll be distributed through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, a global effort aimed at providing access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The agreement “will enable way more equitable access to our vaccines,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Biden plans to formally announce the purchase and planned donation of the additional 500 million doses during a virtual COVID-19 summit he’s convening. The summit will include world leaders and business executives.
U.S. officials sent a list of targets to summit attendees that includes the goal of achieving a 70 percent world vaccination before the United Nations General Assembly meeting in 2022.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
The announcement comes after the United States and a handful of other countries received criticism from some officials, such as World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, for pushing to give people third and even fourth doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 shots.
The officials argue the focus should be on vaccinating the unvaccinated, particularly in poor countries that don’t have much access to the vaccines.
U.S. officials have pushed back, saying the boosters can be administered at the same time first shots are given to people around the world.
The Biden administration hoped that U.S. drug regulators were going to authorize booster doses for all Americans but those hopes dimmed last week when the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel recommended against boosters, except for those 65 and older. Regulators have yet to announce whether they’ll overrule the recommendation.
From The Epoch Times
