President biden
Joe BidenPompeo: Re-entering the deal with Iran would make the Middle East “less secure”. is under increasing pressure to share the US vaccine stock with the rest of the world.
The federal government has accumulated doses, increasing its supply to what is likely to become a surplus, while the rest of the world is fighting shortages. The United States has purchased enough vaccines to immunize each adult in the country three times.
The offer is expected to grow.
This week, Biden announced that he had instructed the government to buy an additional 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson.
The White House said the extra doses could be a barrier to possible manufacturing problems, help vaccinate children or serve as booster doses, if needed to fight variants of the virus.
If finalized, the deal would not be concluded until the second half of the year, but would give the United States a total of 200 million doses of Johnson & Johnson, enough for 200 million people.
When asked at the White House event about the widening gap between the United States and the rest of the world, Biden acknowledged the global nature of the pandemic, but said his goal was to bring COVID-19 under control in America first.
“This is not something that can be stopped by a fence, no matter how high you build a fence or a wall,” said Biden. “So we will definitely not be safe until the world is safe. We will start by making sure that Americans are served first, but then we will try to help the rest of the world.”
“If we have a surplus, we will share it with the rest of the world,” added Biden, noting that the United States has already committed $ 4 billion to COVAX, the program led by the World Health Organization to distribute the vaccine worldwide.
On Friday, Biden pledged to work with leaders in Australia, India and Japan to expand vaccine manufacturing and distribution in Asia. The new commitment aims to address the shortage of vaccines in Southeast Asia.
Even so, government officials reiterated that the United States will not donate vaccines until the entire American population is inoculated and did not say what limit the country would set before considering vaccine exports.
Global health experts and advocates believe that the United States has the ability to donate vaccines to other countries without significantly affecting its availability to Americans, but is unwilling to make such a plan.
“The world is currently facing a vaccine access crisis and the Biden administration has not yet established a clear framework or timetable for the distribution of overdose of vaccine while vaccinating the domestic population of the United States,” said Sarah Swinehart, spokesperson for The ONE Campaign.
The global aid organization UNICEF, which is working with COVAX to deliver vaccines, said that countries that vaccinated their own health professionals and populations at greatest risk should share vaccine doses with other countries.
In the US, demand still outstrips supply, but that is starting to change. States are opening up eligibility, and President Biden said he hopes there will be enough supply for all Americans who want a vaccine by the end of May.
During a speech on Thursday night, Biden said that every adult could apply for a vaccine until May 1.
But pressure and frustration among allied countries is only growing after the government said it has been saving tens of millions of doses of a vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca.
The Trump administration has ordered 300 million doses of the vaccine, but problems with clinical trials have delayed its authorization and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still waiting for additional data.
The vaccine has been authorized for emergency approval in the European Union and is the primary vaccine used by COVAX in poor countries. But although it has not been authorized in the United States, Biden government officials said they are maintaining supplies.
White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients
Jeff ZientsSunday shows the preview: Democrats declare victory in the stimulus COVID-19; Vaccination efforts provide hope for the summer Five things that must happen for people vaccinated with Biden to commit to working with ‘Quad’ countries to expand access to the vaccine MORE told reporters that the United States has a “small stock” of the AstraZeneca vaccine on hand so that it can be distributed quickly if the company receives FDA authorization in the coming weeks.
“We are following exactly the same process that we did with the other three approved vaccines now; Moderna, Pfizer and J&J,” said Zients.
Press Secretary of the White House Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiBiden administration sending FEMA to the border amid the influx of migrant children Five things that must happen to vaccinate people The White House faces challenges to overcome the hesitation of the GOP vaccine MORE said the United States rejected all requests from other countries to share doses of their vaccines.
“There have been orders around the world from several countries that have requested doses from the United States, but we have not provided doses from the US government to anyone,” said Psaki.
Psaki said the government is trying to cover all contingencies and ensure that Americans are placed first.
“We want to make sure that we have maximum flexibility, that we are over-supplied and prepared and that we have the ability to provide vaccines – whatever the most effective – to the American public,” said Psaki. “There are still 1,400 people dying in our country every day and we need to focus on dealing with that.”