Designated Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Antony BlinkenFor Joe Biden, an experienced Biden foreign policy team selects Wendy Sherman to take second place in the State Department after the Night Defense: Agency watchers investigating response to Capitol disturbances | 25,000 guards now approved for inauguration security | Troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq reach 2,500 more said the elected president Joe Biden
Joe BidenWoman accused of trying to sell Pelosi laptop to imprisoned Russians Trump gets the lowest job approval rate in recent days, while President Trump moves to lift coronavirus travel restrictions in Europe, Brazil MORE intends to join Covax, the effort led by the World Health Organization to develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine to low and middle income countries.
Biden previously had not officially committed to participate in the initiative.
“We firmly believe that we can ensure that all Americans receive the vaccine, but also help ensure that other people around the world who want it have access to it,” Blinken told senators during a confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The Trump administration said in September that it would not join the alliance, prompting criticism from public health experts, who said it represented a short-sighted view of a global effort.
Virtually all countries in the world are participating in the initiative, except the United States and Russia.
The Trump administration at the time said it did not want to “be limited by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China”.
Global health agencies launched the Covax project to ensure that poor and developing countries could have access to a coronavirus vaccine in the same proportion as rich and developed countries.
WHO officials said Covax needs additional funding to meet its goal of vaccinating at least 20% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021.
According to the WHO, Covax has already ordered 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with options for another 1 billion.
But the organization is warning that rich countries are accumulating doses of vaccines, which could delay delivery of Covax-funded vaccines and put poor countries at risk. Health experts warn that the pandemic will not end until it is under global control.
Laura Kelly contributed