The American government has pledged to donate more vaccines to poorer countries in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
President Joe Biden planned to announce at a virtual Covid-19 summit on Wednesday that an additional 500 million doses of vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its partner BioNTech would be purchased and delivered to developing countries.
Majid Sattar
Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.
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So far, the United States had promised to donate 600 million doses of vaccine to other countries, including 500 million from Pfizer-BioNTech, which was ordered for poorer countries in the summer. Of these, 200 million cans are to be delivered this year and 300 million cans in the first half of 2022. The total of one billion Pfizer BioNTech cans is expected to be delivered by the end of September next year. Washington had previously shipped more than 100 million doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines abroad - not only to developing countries like Haiti, but also to Canada, for example.
For every vaccination that America administered in its own country, three vaccinations would now be donated to other countries, said a high-ranking government official before the summit.
Washington is the largest donor state in the world, he said.
So far, 160 million vaccine doses have been delivered to almost 100 poorer countries - from Peru to Pakistan, from Sri Lanka to Sudan, from El Salvador to Ethiopia, it said.
"We get a six in ethics"
Biden, who wanted to attend the virtual summit from Washington, had called the meeting during the UN general debate in New York to improve access to the vaccine in the world. The aim is to bring heads of state and government together with representatives of international organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to agree on a "common vision to combat" the coronavirus, said the government representative.
Washington appeals to leaders to improve access to vaccines and also to ensure that Covid tests, therapeutic drugs and protective clothing are made available. The goal must be to help poorer countries to vaccinate at least 70 percent of their population by September next year. The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said in the summer that in order to vaccinate at least 70 percent of the world's population, you need eleven billion doses.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, denounced the unjust distribution of vaccines on Tuesday before the UN General Assembly. "It's an obscenity," he said, referring to unused or expired vaccines. “We passed the scientific test. But we get a six in ethics, ”Guterres continued. In New York, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the unwillingness of some countries to help distribute vaccines. In view of millions of deaths and tens of millions of infected people, it was "a shame for humanity that vaccination nationalism is still being carried on with various methods," he said.
Most recently, Washington had been criticized for its plans to offer fully vaccinated Americans a booster dose after eight months from the end of September, as only two percent of the population in developing countries had received a first dose of vaccine. Meanwhile, an advisory panel to the FDA has opposed the government's plans and recommended that Pfizer BioNTech “boosters” only be offered to older Americans and at risk groups.