President Joe Biden on Monday signaled his plans to ship at least 80 million coronavirus vaccine doses to countries abroad by the end of June are, in part, intended to counter efforts by Russia and China to gain favor globally with their own shipments.
Biden framed his move as the country’s “next step as we ramp up the efforts to respond to COVID-19 around the world,” and marks the first time that vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States will be distributed to other countries.
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The U.S. previously shared 4 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine and pledged to share 60 million more with other countries abroad.
“This means, over the next six weeks, the United States of America will send 80 million doses overseas,” Biden stated. “That represents 13% of the vaccines produced by the United States by the end of June. This will be more vaccines than any country has actually shared to date.
He specifically noted that these vaccine shipments would help the U.S. counter the “influence in the world with vaccines” of China and Russia, “which have donated 15 million doses.”
“We want to lead the world with our values, with this demonstration of our innovation and ingenuity, and the fundamental decency of the American people,” Biden continued. “We’ll share these vaccines in the service of ending the pandemic everywhere, and we will not use our vaccines to secure favors from other countries.”
Biden also used his remarks to encourage people to continue getting vaccinated, citing the recent expansions in access to the vaccines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest mask guidance as responsible for driving down cases in all 50 states “for the first time since the pandemic began.”
“We’re not done fighting this virus. We still have tens of millions left to vaccinate, but we are making significant progress,” he added. “The light at the end of that tunnel is growing brighter.”
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in their entirety below.
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