The White House official said that the U.S. has distributed 400 million doses of Covid vaccine globally, more than any country in the world.
The White House COVID 19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients is expected to announce the milestone, according to the official, who said that the US is shipping more than 3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine beginning Thursday to Bangladesh and more than 4.6 million doses to Pakistan.
The Biden administration made a $500 million purchase from Pfizer in the summer of 2021, bringing the total vaccine doses donated to 400 million.
The U.S. has shipped more than 47 million doses to Pakistan, more than any other country in its donation program. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan are among the 10 most populous countries in the world.
We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. Our vaccines don't come with strings attached. The goal is to save lives. We are doing this with the singular aim of saving lives, the official said.
The U.S. government has 500 million Pfizer vaccine doses to give to the African Union and 92 low and lower middle-income countries, the official said.
The US announcement was the largest-ever purchase and donation of vaccines by a single country and a commitment by the American people to help protect people around the world from COVID- 19, the official said.
The key to ending the epidemic is to eliminate it with a vaccination strategy, according to health experts. Since 2020, every variant of Covid has been identified outside the U.S., including the delta variant in India and the omicron variant in South Africa.