https://www.npr.org/2021/06/10/10052...ccine-globally
The U.S. will donate 500 million doses of COVID vaccine to the rest of the world. President Biden made that announcement today in Cornwall, England.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: And in this moment, our values call on us to do everything that we can to vaccinate the world against COVID-19. It's also in America's self-interest. As long as the virus rages elsewhere, there's a risk of new mutations that could threaten our people.
KELLY: Well, to help answer some of the questions raised by this plan, let's bring in the man in charge of it. Jeff Zients is the White House coronavirus response coordinator. He's traveling with the president, and we've got him on the line now from Cornwall, England. Mr. Zients, welcome.
JEFF ZIENTS: Well, please, Jasmine (ph), it's a pleasure to be with you.
KELLY: Glad to have you with us. All right. Let's walk through this - 500 million doses that the U.S. will give to the rest of the world. The first 200 million to be distributed this year, the rest next year. It sounds like a lot, but, of course, 200 million doses this year will only vaccinate fully the population of a country the size of Egypt, maybe Ethiopia. How much of a difference are you hoping this will make?
ZIENTS: Well, I want to start by saying all of these doses are going to be donated to 100 of the lowest-income countries. And this is the largest purchase by far and donation of COVID-19 vaccine by any country. This is in addition to the 80 million doses that the president announced a few weeks ago that we will be donating from the U.S. supply of vaccines, and we're going to continue to donate doses across the summer months. So all of this adds up to more than a half-billion, and this is not the end of the effort by any stretch.
KELLY: Right. I will note that these 500 million doses announced today, these are from Pfizer. Are you all looking at similar agreements with Moderna, with Johnson & Johnson?
ZIENTS: Yeah. We are in discussions with Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, and we will continue to do everything we can working with those two companies. You're right that today is 500 million doses from Pfizer. That's the mRNA vaccine which has proven to be highly effective and safe and so far has worked against all of the variants. So this is really important to have 500 million doses - 200 million doses, as you said, available by the end of this year with the other 300 million by mid-next year.
KELLY: Now, the U.S. is asking other rich countries to pony up, too, and I'm seeing that G-7 leaders say they will announce more COVID plans on Friday. Can you give us a preview?
ZIENTS: I don't want to get ahead of the G-7 announcement, but I think it'll be clear that American leadership, working with other democracies and partners around the world will really help to lead us out of - the globe out of this pandemic.
KELLY: Safe to say more vaccines are coming for the developing world?
ZIENTS: Yes. And, you know, I think that's really important, and it's made possible in part because of how far along we are in our own vaccination efforts. I want to emphasize that we have enough vaccine for all Americans, and 64% of adults at this point have at least one shot. I would encourage everybody who only has one shot to get fully vaccinated and anyone who hasn't started their vaccination routine to do so because when fully vaccinated, Americans are protected. And when you're not fully vaccinated, you're not protected.
contact the white house and your senator to expedite this.and make certain Thailand tops on the list.
We don't have to tell them WHY it's important to us...
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
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