United States to Donate 500 Million Corona Vaccines

The United States will buy 500 million doses of the corona vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech and then donate it to other countries, US media report. That’s on top of the 80 million doses promised earlier.

The vaccines are shared with about 100 countries, according to The New York Times. The first 200 million are expected this year, the rest in 2022. Two doses of the vaccine will need to be administered for optimal protection, meaning that the new US grant will allow 250 million people to be vaccinated.

The United States is experiencing increasing pressure to share vaccines due to the country’s buoyant vaccination campaign. More than half of the population has had at least one shot. Four in ten Americans are fully vaccinated. Many countries are lagging far behind the Americans.

The plans are expected to be officially announced by President Joe Biden this week. He reported on Wednesday just before his trip to Europe that he would present a corona vaccination plan for the world.

Biden, who is making his first foreign trip as president, will attend the G7 summit in Cornwall and the NATO summit in Brussels, among others. He will also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.