Posted 2 years ago
resident Biden promised on Wednesday that his administration would buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, which it would then donate for distribution across the world. The new donation will mean that by 2022, the United States will have donated 1.1 billion doses of vaccine — far more than any other nation, but not nearly enough to account for the roughly 4 billion unvaccinated people around the world.
“America will become the arsenal of vaccines, as we were the arsenal for democracy during World War II,” President Biden said at a virtual summit with world leaders, where he made the announcement.
Biden also reminded those leaders that they, too, shared in that responsibility. “We need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges,” he said. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump frequently pointed out where he felt other developed nations fell short in their responsibilities, particularly when it came to defense alliances. His method of doing so, unlike Biden’s, showed little subtlety.
China has been engaging in vaccine diplomacy of its own, but its proprietary Sinovax vaccine is far less effective than the vaccines developed by the United States, Britain and Germany. Russia also has its own vaccine, Sputnik V, of which UNICEF purchased 220 million doses, despite outstanding questions about its efficacy.
“To beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere,” Biden said in Wednesday’s remarks, reflecting an epidemiological reality that informs any moral concerns about the role of the United States as a biomedical superpower.
Topic: World News
Tags: Covid-19 Covid Vaccine Joe Biden