WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will announce plans to contribute up to $ 4 billion to a global Covid-19 vaccine program aimed at helping developing countries. According to officials, US national security interests will be strengthened by helping control the pandemic worldwide.
In the coming days, the United States will initially contribute $ 2 billion to a program supported by the World Health Organization called COVAX, which supports access to vaccines for 92 countries. The remaining $ 2 billion will be contributed over the next two years, including another $ 500 million when other donations are fulfilled and the initial doses are delivered.
While millions of Americans are still waiting to access the vaccine, administrative officials said the contribution of the funds, specifically approved by Congress in December for foreign pandemic assistance, will help Americans by reducing the risk of further mutations which could spread the pandemic. .
“We think it’s essential to play a role in beating the pandemic worldwide and to really put the US leadership there to do that,” a senior administrative official said. “It is critical to increase vaccination worldwide, while of course we will prioritize vaccinations here at home.”
The move highlights Biden’s different approach to world affairs after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the WHO and signed an executive order that put vaccines ahead of Americans before helping other countries. Senior officials, however, said the U.S. would only consider donating vaccines to lower-income countries once there is enough stock to vaccinate all Americans, contrary to what global health organizations have called for.
The global aid organization UNICEF has said that countries that have vaccinated their own health workers and populations that are at highest risk for serious diseases should share the vaccine doses with other countries so that they can do the same. Nearly 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, need to administer a single dose, the group said on February 10, calling UNICEF a “self-destructive strategy” that allows the virus to mutate.
It is also unclear how much the funding will help in the short term. Some global health officials have complained that funding is not the issue when it comes to getting the vaccine to developing countries quickly because there is not enough vaccine to buy, a problem that the US has contributed by raising hundreds of millions of doses jerk for Americans.
Biden will announce at a virtual meeting of G-7 leaders on Friday where the global pandemic response is expected to be the focus of the rally.
