As Joe Biden continues his first overseas trip as U.S. President, he, alongside other world leaders from the G7 industrialised nations, are set to announce their vaccine sharing commitments. Meanwhile, the U.S. and the U.K. announced their vaccine sharing commitments following the bilateral meeting between the U.S. President and the British Prime Minister.
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After meeting with British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, U.S. President Joe Biden and Boris Johnson announced their vaccine sharing commitments to share at least 1 billion COVID doses – half the doses coming from the United States, and 100 million from Britain.
U.S. President Joe Biden:
The United States will purchase a half a billion doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to donate to nearly 100 nations that are in dire need in the fight against this pandemic. That’s a historic step. The largest single purchase and donation of COVID-19 vaccines in any single country ever.
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Biden described the world is currently facing a herculean task of stamping out the virus as soon as possible.
Meantime, having met with U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time, Boris Johnson hailed the bilateral meeting, and insisted the U.S. President had not rebuked him over post-Brexit tensions in Northern Ireland.
Prior to the bilateral meeting in the U.K., Johnson also vowed the first 5 million U.K. COVID doses would be donated in the coming weeks, with the remainder coming over next year. He also said he expects the G7 to commit to 1 billion doses in all.
Back to more about the G7 summit. The G7 leaders are faced with mounting pressure to enunciate their vaccine sharing plans, especially as inequities in supply around the world have become more noticeable and obvious.
Suffice it to say, there is a large vaccine stockpile in the U.S. as the demands for shots in the country have dropped significantly in recent weeks.
And the U.S. President also mentioned details about the vaccine shipping schedule.
Joe Biden:
These half a billion vaccines will start to be shipped in August as quickly as they roll off the manufacturing line. Two hundred million of these doses will be delivered this year, in 2021, and 300 million more will be delivered the first half of 2022.
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French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the United States’ commitment and said Europe should do likewise.
Vaccine commitments from the United States and Britain set the stage for the G7 summit in southwest England, where, during the summit, issues related to the coronavirus will be in question.
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