EU pledges 200 million more COVID vaccine doses to Africa

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is committing 200 million more coronavirus vaccine doses to Africa to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic on a global scale.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the new donation to be fully delivered by the middle of next year comes on top of 250 million already pledged and underscores the EU resolve to boost the challenge low-income nations are facing.

Von der Leyen called it an “investment in solidarity and it is an investment also in global health.”

She said that on top of delivering 700 million doses to Europeans, the 27-nation bloc had also sent as many to a combined 130 nations.

“We are the only region in the world to achieve this,” she said in her State of the European Union address to the European Parliament.

“Our first and most urgent priority is to speed up global vaccination," von der Leyen said. "With less than 1 percent of global doses administered to lower income countries, the scale of injustice and the level of urgency is obvious.”

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