'Will save lives': Biden hails 'historic' 500 mn COVID jabs donation to low-income nations

US President Joe Biden on Thursday promised to donate 500 million doses of vaccines to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic across the world,  including 200 million to be delivered by the end of 2021. In a White House press release on June 10, President Biden said that the United States will purchase and donate half a billion Pfizer vaccines to 92 low- and lower-middle-income countries as well as the African Union in a “historic action”. “This is the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country,” the White House on Thursday stated, quoting US President Biden. 

“We're going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners," Biden told a press conference. He added that other G-7 nations would join the US in outlining their vaccine donation commitments. “US will share its doses with no strings attached” or “pressure for favours. "We're doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic, and that's it,” he said.

The US President Biden stressed that he will also push the world’s democracies to contribute to the global supply of safe and effective vaccines under the COVAX in order to end the pandemic. In the coming days, the Biden administration will announce a foundation for additional actions to donate the vaccines to the developing nations, as 64 percent of all adult Americans have already received at least one shot of the jab.

80 million vaccines to COVAX 

The new announcement comes in the backdrop of the Biden administration’s donation of at least 80 million vaccines from the United States’ supply to COVAX by the end of June. The US has also contributed two billion dollars to the WHO facility and has agreed to support local production capacity for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, including through the Quad initiative.

“President Biden has been clear that borders cannot keep this pandemic at bay and has vowed that our nation will be the arsenal of vaccines,” the White House stated. 

The COVID-19 vaccines will start shipping in August 2021 with 200 million doses delivered by end of this year, and the remaining 300 million will be delivered in the first half of 2022. US will allocate these doses to low and lower-middle-income nations, through COVAX. Pfizer plans to produce these half a billion doses in the US at the facilities in Kalamazoo, Michigan.