‘We Need To Go Big’: Biden Urges Global Leaders To Donate More Vaccines
"We're not going to solve this crisis with half-measures or middle-of-the-road ambitions," President Joe Biden said at a virtual vaccine summit he convened Wednesday, where he announced the U.S. purchase of an additional 500 doses of Pfizer's covid shot to share with poorer nations. Other strategies for ending the pandemic were discussed.
AP:
Biden Doubles US Global Donation Of COVID-19 Vaccine Shots
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the United States is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world to 1 billion doses as he embraces the goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year. The stepped-up U.S. commitment marks the cornerstone of the global vaccination summit Biden convened virtually on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where he encouraged well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control. It comes as world leaders, aid groups and global health organizations have growing increasingly vocal about the slow pace of global vaccinations and the inequity of access to shots between residents of wealthier and poorer nations. (Miller, 9/22)
The New York Times:
At Covid Summit, Biden Sets Ambitious Goals For Vaccinating The World
President Biden, declaring the coronavirus an “all-hands-on-deck crisis,” set out ambitious goals on Wednesday for ending the pandemic and urged world leaders, drug companies, philanthropies and nonprofit groups to embrace a target of vaccinating 70 percent of the world by next year. But the course that Mr. Biden charted, at a virtual Covid-19 summit meeting that he convened on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, may be difficult to turn into reality. And pressure is mounting on the president to lean harder on U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers, which are resisting sharing their Covid-19 technology with poorer countries. (Stolberg, 9/22)
NPR:
U.S. Will Donate More COVID Doses And Asks Other Rich Nations To Pitch In
Biden's goal fell short of what global health advocates have been pushing for. Those tensions came out during the summit. During his remarks, which were not open to the press, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated a call for a more ambitious goal: vaccinating 40% of people in all countries by the end of this year and 70% in the first half of 2022. Guterres was critical of wealthy nations scooping up vaccine contracts for their own populations while middle-income countries compete for doses in a seller's market and poor countries are left to wait for donations. (Keith, 9/22)
In related news —
Politico:
Biden Announces 'Partnership' With EU On Global Vaccine Distribution Effort
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday the formation of a partnership between the United States and European Union to further the global Covid-19 vaccination effort. “The United States is leading the world on vaccination donations. As we're doing that, we need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges,” Biden said at a virtual meeting with leaders of the United Nations, World Health Organization and countries including the United Kingdom and Canada. (Niedzwiadek, 9/22)
The New York Times:
Pressure Grows On U.S. Companies To Share Covid Vaccine Technology
Pressure is growing on American drug companies — particularly Moderna, the upstart biotech firm that developed its coronavirus vaccine with billions of dollars in taxpayer money — to share their formulas with manufacturers in nations that desperately need more shots. Last year’s successful race to develop vaccines in extraordinarily short order put companies like Moderna and Pfizer in a highly favorable spotlight. But now, with less than 10 percent of those in many poor nations fully vaccinated and a dearth of doses contributing to millions of deaths, health officials in the United States and abroad are pressing the companies to do more to address the global shortage. (Nolen and Stolberg, 9/22)
NBC News:
The U.S. Is Discarding Millions Of Covid Vaccines. One Cause: Multi-Dose Vials.
On July 16, a worker at a vaccination clinic in Alpena County, Michigan, opened a vial of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. That started the clock: All 10 doses had to get into arms within hours. But the person who was supposed to get vaccinated had a change of heart, according to records the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shared with NBC News. Workers scrambled to find others who wanted the doses in the opened vial, but they couldn’t find a single person — so, in the end, they had to discard the 10 doses, they told state officials when they reported the waste. (Eaton, 9/23)
