US President Joe Biden announces international Covid-19 vaccine sharing plan

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his plans to allocate 75 per cent nearly 19 million of the first tranche of 25 million doses of unused Covid19 vaccines through the UNbacked COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as AfricaVice President Kamala Harris spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and three other world leaders and informed them that the US will begin sharing the first 25 million doses of Covid19 vaccines to their respective countriesModi also tweeted thanking the US VP for ldquoall the support and solidarity from the US government businesses and Indian diasporardquoWe also discussed ongoing efforts to further strengthen IndiaUS vaccine cooperation and the potential of our partnership to contribute to postCovid global health and economic recoverymdash Narendra Modi narendramodi June 3 2021In a statement President Biden provided details on how the US will allocate the first 25 million of the vaccines to lay the ground for increased global coverage and to address real and potential surges high burdens of disease and the needs of the most vulnerable countriesAt least 75 percent of these doses nearly 19 million will be shared through COVAX including approximately 6 million doses for Latin America and the Caribbean approximately 7 million for South and Southeast Asia and approximately 5 million for Africa Biden saidAlso Read Mumbai likely to get 87000 Covishield doses on June 4 MayorThe remaining doses just over 6 million will be shared directly with countries experiencing surges those in crisis and other partners and neighbours including Canada Mexico India and the Republic of Koreaiquest he saidThe Biden administration had been under pressure to send the excess COVID19 vaccines with the US to nations like India which are facing severe vaccine shortagesWe are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic And we will continue to follow the science and to work in close cooperation with our democratic partners to coordinate a multilateral effort including through the G7rdquo Biden addedCovid19 Vaccines Global Access abbreviated as COVAX is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid19 vaccines directed by Gavi the Vaccine Alliance the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health OrganisationPresident Biden on May 17 said the US will share 20 million more COVID19 vaccine doses with other countries taking the total number of such shots to 80 million Ten million is equal to one croreThe additional 20 million doses will be of the Pfizer IncBioNTech Moderna Inc and Johnson amp Johnson vaccines on top of 60 million AstraZeneca Plc doses he had already planned to give to other countriesBiden said the United States also recognise that ending this pandemic means ending it everywhere As long as this pandemic is raging anywhere in the world the American people will still be vulnerable And the United States is committed to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at homerdquoAlready the United States has committed USD 4 billion to support COVAX and it has launched partnerships to boost global capacity to manufacture more vaccines he saidMy administration supports efforts to temporarily waive intellectual property rights for Covid19 vaccines because over time we need more companies producing lifesaving doses of proven vaccines that are shared equitablyrdquo Biden saidWe have already shared more than 4 million doses of vaccine with Canada and Mexico and last month I announced that by the end of June the United States will share 80 million doses of our vaccine supply with the worldrdquo he saidNoting that strong American leadership is essential to ending this pandemic now and to strengthening global health security for tomorrow to better prevent detect and respond to the next threat Biden said the US will be the worlds arsenal of vaccines in ldquoour shared fight against this virusrdquoIn the days to come as we draw on the experience of distributing the vaccine doses announced today we will have more details to provide about how future doses will be shared And we will continue to do all we can to build a world that is safer and more secure against the threat of infectious diseaserdquo he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever