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WASHINGTON – President Biden on Wednesday pledged his administration would purchase 500 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, which it would then donate for worldwide distribution. The new donation means that by 2022, the United States will have donated 1.1 billion doses of vaccine – far more than any other country, but not enough to represent the roughly 4 billion unvaccinated people globally. .
“America will become the arsenal of vaccines, just as we were the arsenal of democracy in World War II,” President Biden said at a virtual summit with world leaders where he made the announcement .
Biden also reminded those leaders that they too share this responsibility. “We need other high-income countries to keep their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges,” he said. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, has frequently pointed out where other developed countries feel short of their responsibilities, especially when it comes to defense alliances. His method, unlike Biden’s, showed little subtlety.
China has embarked on its own vaccine diplomacy, but its proprietary Sinovax vaccine is far less effective than vaccines developed by the United States, Britain and Germany. Russia also has its own vaccine, Sputnik V, of which UNICEF has purchased 220 million doses, despite outstanding questions about its effectiveness.
As the president spoke from the White House, a panel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined how booster shots would be given to Americans already vaccinated but whose protections could weaken.
The two problems are closely linked. Some have argued that the waning effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine after about eight months requires Biden to make sure Americans’ immunity is boosted before considering the rest of the world.
Others say it is the moral responsibility of the United States to help nations where few, if any, people have been vaccinated. Estimates suggest that in the developing world, as little as 2% of people have been vaccinated. In contrast, Britain vaccinated 89% of residents aged 16 and over.
“To beat the pandemic here, we have to beat it everywhere,” Biden said in Wednesday’s remarks, reflecting an epidemiological reality that sheds light on any moral concerns about the role of the United States as a biomedical superpower.
A new variant of the coronavirus is expected to appear in parts of the world where the virus has free rein to replicate and mutate. “Ensuring vaccines are accessible to the world’s population better protects everyone and helps prevent viral mutations and potentially dangerous variants that have the potential to elude current vaccines and reverse hard-earned gains in states.” -Unis, ”reads a joint statement from the Infectious. Disease Society of America.
The group called on Biden to “speed up” vaccine distribution in developing countries, which the statement said have so far received less than 1% of all vaccine doses.
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