Washington (AFP)

President Joe Biden is due to announce Thursday the donation by the United States of 500 million vaccines to poor countries, a strong gesture intended to demonstrate his country's commitment to the global fight against the coronavirus.

Mr Biden, who arrived in the UK on Wednesday evening, the initial stage of his first trip abroad since taking office, had said before leaving that he was preparing to unveil a global vaccine strategy.

He "will speak on this subject tomorrow (Thursday) and can talk about the additional measures the United States is taking to help give more doses to poor countries," the security adviser said on board Air Force One. National Jake Sullivan.

According to several American media, Mr. Biden is to announce that the United States will buy 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech to give them to other countries.

According to the New York Times, the first 200 million doses will be distributed this year, and the other 300 million next year.

The United States has come under heavy criticism for delaying sharing its vaccines with the rest of the world.

The White House is now trying to be at the forefront of the planetary fight against the pandemic, which has killed more than 3.75 million, including nearly 600,000 in the United States.

- Vaccination equity -

To the ravages of the disease are added the catastrophic consequences for the economy of the poorest countries.

So, according to a UN report released Thursday, nine million children are at risk of being forced to work because of the pandemic, adding to the 160 million who are already forced to do so.

"We are losing ground in the fight against child labor and last year did not make things any easier," said Henrietta Fore, who heads Unicef.

And to add: "While we have largely entered the second year of confinements, school closures, economic shocks and declining national budgets, families are forced to make tough choices."

Many rich countries are returning to a semblance of normal life as the epidemic recedes thanks to vaccination.

France and Belgium reopened indoor bars and restaurants on Wednesday, and the United States relaxed its travel warnings.

But other countries continue to be sorely lacking in vaccines.

Thus Tunisia, which received only 1.6 million doses for 12 million inhabitants, needs more vaccines "without delay" to revive its activity, pleaded Wednesday its Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.

"We must speed up" vaccination, insisted Mr. Mechichi after a meeting in Geneva with WHO leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"The pandemic has accelerated inequalities" between countries, he noted.

"There is a problem of equity (on access to) vaccines at the global level. Those who could share do not do it", added the boss of the WHO, who called on the member countries of the G7 to give 100 million doses to disadvantaged countries in the next two months.

While most poor countries are in dire need of vaccines, other wealthier nations are struggling to convince the most reluctant to get immunized.

Thus, a few lucky vaccinees will share nearly 1.5 million Canadian dollars (1.23 million euros) or scholarships if they win a lottery launched Wednesday by Manitoba, the Canadian province most affected by the epidemic, to speed up its vaccination campaign.

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This initiative is reminiscent of the one launched in Hong Kong.

Real estate developers organized there in May a lottery reserved for the vaccinated, the jackpot of which is a new apartment worth 1.1 million euros, in the hope of relaunching a languishing vaccination campaign that threatens to condemn to the trash can several million doses.

© 2021 AFP