Joe Biden confirmed the donation of more vaccines to the rest of the world and sent a message to Russia and China: “We will not use them for favors”

The president of the United States, Joe Biden confirmed on Monday that his administration will send 20 million more doses than originally announced to third countries in the coming weeks., bringing the total to 80 million.

“This figure represents 13 percent of all vaccines produced in the United States,” said the president.

In a White House statement, Biden explained that the original 60 million doses will be AstraZeneca -whose application has not yet been authorized in the country- and an additional 20 million will come from the three laboratories that have received approval from the health authorities: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna y Johnson & Johnson.

Those from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory, however, They will only be shipped after approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“We know that the United States will not be completely safe until the global pandemic ends,” he added. In another passage of his message, the president noted that the quantity to be sent multiplies by five “the greatest quantity of doses given by a country in the world”. And in a message to China and Russia – “it has been argued that they seek to influence the world with their vaccines,” he said – he assured the country “will not use the doses to get favors”..

The Biden administration has not yet clarified which countries will receive the vaccines, but said Washington will do everything possible to help India cope with the worsening pandemic. He also said the distribution criteria will be decided in conjunction with the World Health Organization’s Covax mechanism, which is coordinating the global effort to ensure this is done in a fair manner..

“With them, we will ensure that they are distributed fairly and comply with scientific guidelines and public health statistics,” he said., and foresaw that he hoped to make further announcements on the subject at the G7 meeting in the UK, which will take place from June 11 to 13 and will be the first overseas trip of his presidency.

The announcement comes as pressure has mounted on the Biden administration to use its large vaccine surplus to help other countries, as the vaccination campaign in the United States has made significant progress, to the point that the supply of vaccines is starting to exceed your demand.

Specifically, last week, an average of 1.9 million people were vaccinated each day, a sharp drop from the peak of 3.38 million recorded in April, according to data from the Centers for Control and Prevention. diseases (CDC).

According to CDC figures, more than 157 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while about 123 million are fully inoculated. Biden said more than 60% of the adult population will receive at least one dose on Tuesday, calling for continued efforts to reach 70% by July 4.

On Monday, UNICEF said G7 and European Union countries can afford to donate more than 150 million vaccines to countries in need without compromising their own goals. According to the Bloomberg agency, 1.45 billion vaccines were applied worldwide on Monday, but the 27 richest countries account for 33.8% of that figure despite 10.4% of the population.

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