Administration officials characterized the decision as one intended to prevent further spread and mutation of the virus, disregarding borders and the relative income levels of different countries.
Yet they said no decision had been taken to donate surplus vaccine doses already purchased by the United States directly to other countries, which could accelerate efforts to get the world population vaccinated.
Other countries, including Russia and China, have made their own direct donations to countries of their state-funded vaccines, which the White House earlier said it viewed with concern.
“This pandemic is not going to end unless we end it worldwide,” a senior administration official said. “Pandemics – they travel. And we also know the more disease there is, the greater the chance of seeing variants.”
COVAX hopes to provide vaccinations to at least 20% of the population in 92 of the poorest countries in the world by the end of this year. It has secured deals with vaccine manufacturers to buy more than 2 billion doses of money donated by rich countries, although not all of the vaccines have yet been authorized for use.
It has not kept its financing targets, but the US dollar’s $ 2 billion will form a substantial basis. Trump did not want to participate in the global effort and insisted that his focus should be on giving shots to Americans.
Biden administration officials said they also focus on vaccinating Americans and separating the domestic and international efforts.
“This promise to COVAX has no bearing on the vaccination program in the United States,” an official said.
The US government has secured 600 million doses of vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna and available by the end of July. It also bought doses of the Johnson & Johnson product that have yet to be approved, as well as other vaccines that are yet to be developed.
This is likely to mean that the US will have copious doses that can be donated to poorer countries. The Biden government wants to develop a framework to donate excess vaccines ‘as soon as there is sufficient stock in the US’.
The timeline for that depends on when there is sufficient stock in the US.
“Our current focus is on vaccinating Americans, firing guns here and supporting the COVAX effort,” said a second senior administration official, indicating that the government will focus on meeting domestic vaccination needs. provided before it is shared internationally internationally.
Lawyers have called on the government of Biden and other rich countries to make plans for donating surplus doses, in addition to increasing their financial contributions.
“It’s no longer a question of whether the United States will get enough shots for everyone who wants one, but what we plan to do with the excess doses we bought,” said Tom Hart, North America’s executive director. of The ONE Campaign. As G7 leaders prepare to meet for the first time since the start of this pandemic, the Biden government needs to show strong global leadership and set a framework and timeline for a global plan to distribute excess vaccine doses to countries that it need while simultaneously vaccinating the US domestic population. “
Other affluent countries have also begun to reserve large orders for vaccines, making poorer countries rely on the COVAX initiative for their populations – or on countries such as China, India and Russia, which have begun donating their state-produced vaccines directly to other countries. .
Last week, the White House said it was wary of these efforts.
“We have certainly seen attempts by other countries – China and Russia – to use vaccines as a way to advance diplomatically,” said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary. “You know, the president is working on a series of leaders around the world and telling us how he wants to bring the United States back to a central place on the world stage, and we are working on that through a series of actions. But we are – we are concerned about the actions. ‘