President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the United States is doubling its purchase of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world to one billion doses as he embraces the goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the global population within the next year.
The stepped-up U.S. commitment is to be the cornerstone of the global vaccination summit Biden is convening virtually Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, where he plans to push well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control.
World leaders, aid groups and global health organizations are growing increasingly vocal about the slow pace of global vaccinations and the inequity of access to shots between residents of wealthier and poorer nations.
The U.S. purchase, according to two senior Biden administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Biden's remarks, will bring the total U.S. vaccination commitment to more than 1.1 billion doses through 2022.
At least 160 million shots supplied by the U.S. have been distributed to more than 100 countries, representing more donations than the rest of the world combined. The remaining American doses will be distributed over the coming year.
"To beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere," Biden said. He went on to say that with the new commitments, "For every one shot we've administered to date in America, we have now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world."
The latest purchase reflects only a fraction of what will be necessary to meet a goal of vaccinating 70 per cent of the global population — and 70 per cent of the citizens of each nation — by next September's UN meeting. It's a target pushed by global aid groups that Biden will throw his weight behind.
Biden is pressing other countries to do more in their vaccine-sharing plans.
"We need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges," Biden said. He called on wealthy countries to commit to donating, rather than selling the shots to poorer nations, and to provide them "with no political strings attached."
America is committed to beating COVID-19. Today, the United States is doubling our total number of global donated vaccines to more than 1.1 billion. For every shot we've put in an American arm to date, we are donating three shots globally.
—@SecBlinken
Biden said the U.S. would also increase its funding to global aid groups that are administering shots.
The American response has come under criticism for being too modest, particularly as the administration advocates for providing booster shots to tens of millions of Americans before vulnerable people in poorer nations have received even a first dose.
"We have observed failures of multilateralism to respond in an equitable, co-ordinated way to the most acute moments. The existing gaps between nations with regard to the vaccination process are unheard of," Colombian President Ivan Duque said Tuesday at the United Nations.
Wide range in vaccination rates
More than 5.9 billion COVID-19 doses have been administered globally over the past year, representing about 43 per cent of the global population. But there are vast disparities in distribution, with many lower-income nations struggling to vaccinate even the most vulnerable share of their populations, and some yet to exceed two per cent to three per cent vaccination rates.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said the "triumph" of speedy vaccine development was offset by political "failure" that produced inequitable distribution.
"In science, co-operation prevailed; in politics, individualism. In science, shared information reigned; in politics, reserve. In science, teamwork predominated; in politics, isolated effort," Pinera said.
The World Health Organization says only 15 per cent of promised donations of vaccines — from rich countries that have access to large quantities of them — have been delivered. The UN health agency has said it wants countries to fulfil their dose-sharing pledges "immediately" and make shots available for programs that benefit poor countries and Africa in particular.
WATCH | From July: WHO's Tedros urges rich nations to share vaccines to developed world:
![](https://thumbnails.cbc.ca/maven_legacy/thumbnails/926/979/pfizer-booster-who-birak-120721.jpg?crop=1.777xh:h;*,*&downsize=510px:*%20510w")
The World Health Organization and aid groups have warned that the persistent inequities risk extending the global pandemic, and that could lead to new and more dangerous variants. The delta variant raging across the U.S. has proved to be more transmissible than the original strain, though the existing vaccines have been effective at preventing nearly all serious illness and death.
COVAX, the UN-backed program to ship vaccines to all countries, has struggled with production issues, supply shortages and a near-cornering of the market for vaccines by wealthy nations.
WHO has urged companies that produce vaccines to prioritize COVAX and make public their supply schedules. It also has appealed to wealthy countries to avoid broad rollouts of booster shots so doses can be made available to health-care workers and vulnerable people in the developing world. Such calls have largely gone ignored.
In remarks at the UN, Biden took credit on Tuesday for sharing more than 160 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries, including 130 million surplus doses and the first instalments of more than 500 million shots the U.S. is purchasing for the rest of the world.
Other leaders made clear in advance it was not enough.
COVAX has missed nearly all of its vaccine-sharing targets. Its managers also have lowered their ambitions to ship vaccines by the end of this year, from an original target of some two billion doses worldwide to hopes for 1.4 billion now. Even that mark could be missed.
As of Tuesday, COVAX had shipped more than 296 million doses to 141 countries.
Biden convenes global COVID-19 summit, U.S. pledges to share more vaccines - CBC.ca
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