US to donate 500 million extra doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine to countries with fewer resources

United States to purchase and distribute 500 million additional doses of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine in countries with fewer resources, senior officials of the US administration said on Wednesday.

In this way, Total number of doses Washington promises to give will rise to over 1.1 billion.

On the other hand, the American president Joe biden wants to set an “ambitious goal”, by which each country, including the poorest, “Reach 70% of vaccinations” in your population within a year, these sources specified, under anonymity.

The announcement is to be made by the Democratic President on Wednesday during a virtual summit which will preside over the fight against the pandemic.

“It’s a huge commitment on the part of the United States. For every dose that we give in this country so far, we give three doses to other countries “said an official.

Vaccines will be purchased at cost price and distributed through the international Covax mechanism, according to officials.

Till date The United States has donated some 160 million doses to more than 100 different countries.

According to OurDataWorld, 43.5% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Corn this digit, high by the vaccination rate in developed countries, hides huge inequalities and there are countries with fewer resources where only 2% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

“This summit has the ambition to declare the beginning of the end of the pandemic“According to American sources. “It’s going to take a lot of work.”.

The coronavirus pandemic has stopped more than 4.7 million deaths worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a count of AFP based on official figures. However, the WHO estimates that the toll from the pandemic could be two or three times higher.

(With information from AFP)

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