President Biden
Joe BidenPompeo: Reintroducing agreement with Iran would make the Middle East less secure “DNC” to promote in the middle of the period Biden is struggling to discover Trump’s network of immigration rules it is under increasing pressure to share the US vaccine stock with the rest of the world.
The federal government has amassed doses, increasing its supply in what is likely to become a surplus as the rest of the world struggles with shortages. The United States has purchased enough vaccines to immunize three times every adult in the country.
The supply is likely to increase.
This week, Biden announced that he had instructed the administration to buy another 100 million doses from Johnson & Johnson.
The White House said the additional doses could be a backstop for possible production problems, help vaccinate children or serve as booster doses if needed to fight virus variants.
If finalized, the deal would only be fulfilled in the second half of the year, but it would provide the United States with a total of 200 million photos from Johnson & Johnson, enough for 200 million people.
When asked at the White House event about the growing gap between the United States and the rest of the world, Biden acknowledged the global nature of the pandemic, but said his goal is to bring COVID-19 under control in America in first of all.
“This is not something that can be stopped by a fence, no matter how high you build a fence or a wall,” Biden said. “So we’re not going to be safe until the world is safe. We’re going to start making sure Americans are taken care of first, but then we’re going to try to help the rest of the world.”
“If we have a surplus, we will share it with the rest of the world,” Biden added, noting that the United States has already committed $ 4 billion to COVAX, the World Health Organization’s program to distribute the vaccine worldwide. world.
On Friday, Biden pledged to work with leaders in Australia, India and Japan to expand vaccine production and delivery in Asia. The new commitment aims to address the vaccine shortage in Southeast Asia.
However, government officials reiterated that the United States will not donate vaccines until the entire American population is inoculated and did not say what threshold the country would set before considering vaccine exports.
Experts and health advocates around the world believe that the US has the ability to donate vaccines to other countries without significantly affecting their availability to Americans, but they did not want to make such a plan.
“The world is currently facing a crisis of access to vaccines, and the Biden administration has not yet established a clear framework or timetable for the distribution of excess vaccine doses, while vaccinating the U.S. domestic population,” said Sarah Swinehart, carrier of word of the ONE campaign.
The global aid organization UNICEF, which works with COVAX to deliver vaccines, said countries that have vaccinated their own medical staff and high-risk populations should share vaccine doses with other countries.
In the US, demand still exceeds supply, but it is starting to change. States are opening up eligibility, and President Biden said he expects there will be enough deals by the end of May for every American who wants a vaccine.
During a speech Thursday night, Biden said every adult will be able to sign up for a vaccine by May 1 at the latest.
But the pressure and frustration between allied countries only increases after the administration said it kept tens of millions of doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Trump administration has ordered 300 million doses of vaccine, but problems with clinical trials have suspended 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 main vaccine used by COVAX in poor countries. But even though it was not authorized in the United States, Biden administration officials said they would keep the supply.
White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients
Jeff Zients on Sunday shows preview: Democrats declare victory on COVID-19 stimulus; Vaccination efforts offer hope for summer Five things need to happen for Biden vaccinated people to commit to working with Quad countries to expand access to vaccine MULT told reporters that the US has a “small inventory” of the AstraZeneca vaccine, so it can be ready to be distributed quickly if the company receives FDA approval in the coming weeks.
“We are following exactly the same process that we did with the other three vaccines now approved; Modern, Pfizer and J&J, ”said Zients.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiBiden administration sends FEMA to the border amid the influx of migrant children Five things that need to happen for people to be vaccinated at the White House face challenges in overcoming the GOP vaccine hesitation MORE said the US had rejected all requests from other countries to split doses of its vaccines.
“There have been requests around the world from a number of countries that have requested doses from the United States, but we have not provided doses from the US government to anyone,” Psaki said.
Psaki said the administration is trying to cover all unforeseen situations and make sure Americans come first.
“We want to make sure that we have maximum flexibility, that we are overworked and over-prepared, and that we have the ability to provide vaccines – whichever is most effective – for the American public,” Psaki said. “There are another 1,400 people dying in our country every day and we need to focus on addressing this.”