The U.S. President Joe Biden's statement on Global Vaccine Distribution
As the United States continues the efforts to get every eligible American vaccinated and fight COVID-19 here at home, U.S. also recognizes that ending this pandemic means ending it everywhere.
As long as this pandemic is raging anywhere in the world, the American people will still be vulnerable. And the United States is committed to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that have demonstrated at home.
Already the United States has committed $4 billion to support COVAX, and have launched partnerships to boost global capacity to manufacture more vaccines. Biden's administration supports efforts to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines because, over time, the U.S. needs more companies producing life-saving doses of proven vaccines that are shared equitably. The U.S. has already shared more than 4 million doses of vaccine with Canada and Mexico, and last month, Biden announced that, by the end of June, the United States will share 80 million doses of the vaccine supply with the world.
The U.S. providing more detail on how they will allocate the first 25 million of those vaccines to lay the ground for increased global coverage and to address real and potential surges, high burdens of disease, and the needs of the most vulnerable countries. At least 75 per cent of these doses—nearly 19 million—will be shared through COVAX, including approximately 6 million doses for Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 7 million for South and Southeast Asia, and approximately 5 million for Africa, working in coordination with the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The remaining doses, just over 6 million, will be shared directly with countries experiencing surges, those in crisis, and other partners and neighbours, including Canada, Mexico, India, and the Republic of Korea.
The U.S. is sharing these doses not to secure favours or extract concessions. The U.S. is sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic, with the power of the example and with the values. And will continue to follow the science and to work in close cooperation with the democratic partners to coordinate a multilateral effort, including through the G7.
Strong American leadership is essential to ending this pandemic now, and to strengthening global health security for tomorrow—to better prevent, detect, and respond to the next threat. The United States will be the world’s arsenal of vaccines in the shared fight against this virus. In the days to come, as the U.S. draw on the experience of distributing the vaccine doses announced, the U.S. will have more details to provide about how future doses will be shared. And will continue to do all that can to build a world that is safer and more secure against the threat of infectious disease.
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