(AP) – President Joe Biden will announce that the United States will double its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 syringes to share with the world to 1 billion doses as he aims to reach 70 over the next several years % of the world population vaccinated year.
The increased US engagement is said to be the cornerstone of the global vaccination summit, which Biden is practically meeting on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, where he wants to get wealthy nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control.
“Our city has let us down”: The city of Georgetown will not punish the Ponderosa Pet Resort for operating it without a kennel permit
Leading politicians, aid agencies and global health organizations are getting louder and louder about the slow pace of global vaccination and unfair access to vaccination between residents of wealthy and poor nations.
The U.S. purchase will bring the total U.S. vaccination requirement to more than 1.1 billion doses by 2022, according to two senior Biden government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Biden’s statements. At least 160 million vaccinations have been delivered by the US and distributed in more than 100 countries, which is more donations than the rest of the world combined.
The latest purchase reflects only a fraction of what it takes to meet the goal of vaccinating 70% of the world’s population – and 70% of the citizens of every nation – by the next UN meeting in September. It is a goal driven by global aid groups that Biden will use his weight to achieve.
The White House said Biden will use the summit to urge other countries to “commit to higher ambitions” in their vaccine exchange plans, including specific challenges they face. Officials said the White House would publicly release the goals for wealthy nations and nonprofits after the summit concludes.
The American response has been criticized as being too modest, especially as the government advocates giving tens of millions of Americans booster vaccinations before vulnerable people in poorer countries have even received an initial dose.
“We have found that multilateralism has failed to respond in a fair and coordinated manner at the most pressing moments. The existing gaps between the nations in relation to the vaccination process are unknown, ”said Colombian President Iván Duque on Tuesday before the United Nations.
In the past year, more than 5.9 billion doses of COVID-19 were administered worldwide, which is about 43% of the world’s population. But there are big differences in the distribution, as many lower-income countries have difficulty vaccinating even the weakest part of their population, and some vaccination rates are still above 2-3%.
In remarks to the United Nations on Tuesday, Biden acknowledged that he had shared more than 160 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries, including 130 million excess doses and the first installments of more than 500 million vaccinations that the US had for the rest USA buy world.
Other leaders made it clear in advance that this was not enough.
Chilean President Sebastian Piñera said the “triumph” of rapid vaccine development was offset by a political “failure” that led to an unjust distribution. “In science there was cooperation; in politics, individualism. In science there was common information; in politics, reserve. Teamwork dominated in science; in politics, isolated effort, ”said Piñera.
The World Health Organization says only 15% of promised vaccine donations – from rich countries that have access to large quantities – have been delivered. The UN health agency has announced that countries will meet their commitment to split the dose “immediately” by providing syringes for programs that benefit poor countries, especially Africa.
COVAX, the UN-supported program for sending vaccines to all countries, struggled with production problems, supply bottlenecks and an almost strained market position for vaccines by wealthy nations.
WHO has asked vaccine-making companies to prioritize COVAX and publish their delivery schedules. It has also appealed to wealthy countries to avoid widespread adoption of booster vaccinations so that the doses can be made available to health workers and vulnerable people in developing countries. Such calls were largely ignored.
COVAX has missed almost all of its vaccine-sharing goals. Managers have also cut their ambitions to ship vaccines by the end of this year, from an original target of about 2 billion doses worldwide to now 1.4 billion doses. Even this brand could be overlooked.
As of Tuesday, COVAX had shipped more than 296 million cans to 141 countries.
The global target of 70% is ambitious, not least because of the US experience.
Biden had set a goal of vaccinating 70% of the US adult population by July 4th, but continued reluctance to vaccinate helped the nation only achieve that goal a month later. Nearly 64% of the entire US population have received at least one dose and less than 55% are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
US officials hope to increase those numbers in the coming months, both by encouraging the use of vaccination regulations and vaccinating children, once regulators clear vaccination for the under-12 population.
Aid agencies have warned that the persistent inequalities could widen the global pandemic, leading to new and more dangerous varieties. The Delta variant, common in the US, has been shown to be more transmissible than the original strain, although the existing vaccines have prevented nearly all serious illnesses and deaths.
___
Associated press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Josh Boak at the United Nations and David Biller in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/22/biden-doubles-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-purchase-to-1-billion-doses-will-share-with-world/
No comments:
Post a Comment