Designated Secretary of State Tony Blinken announced at a confirmation hearing on Tuesday that President-elect Biden would bring the United States into the COVAX initiative – the global effort by the World Health Organization and other groups to ensure that all countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Why it matters: Virtually everyone has subscribed to COVAX, except the USA and Russia. It is expected to be the only source of vaccines for some of the world’s poorest countries and needs additional funding to meet its goal of vaccinating at least 20% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021.
- COVAX was designed for high and middle income countries to provide funding to develop and distribute vaccines, effectively subsidizing access for low income countries in the process.
- The United States would likely play the role of financier, rather than receiver, given the hundreds of millions of doses the country has already purchased directly.
- What to watch: Canada is developing a mechanism that would allow countries that have purchased more doses than necessary to donate them through COVAX.
What is he saying: “We strongly believe that we can do this – to ensure that all Americans receive the vaccine, but also to help ensure that other people around the world who want it have access to it,” said Blinken of joining COVAX.
The other side: The Trump administration refused to join, citing China’s influence on WHO.
- Blinken said that while WHO was “in need of reform”, the United States was better off having a seat at the table.
Go deeper: Rich countries are adopting the vaccine fast track. Others can wait years