The Biden administration will mark a milestone of vaccines shipped abroad, announcing Wednesday that the US has shared 400 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine with the world.
White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients is expected to announce the 400 million marker at Wednesday’s Covid-19 response briefing as the US ships an additional 3.2 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine to Bangladesh and 4.7 million doses to Pakistan through the COVAX global vaccine sharing program, a White House official told CNN.
Pakistan has received the most doses from the US, with a total of 47.4 million doses shipped as of Wednesday.
The US has donated more doses than any other country, Zients will note.
President Joe Biden announced to the UN General Assembly last fall that the US had purchased another 500 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, which would begin shipping this month, with 800 million vaccines expected to be shipped abroad through September of this year.
The efforts to share vaccines globally come as the US has acknowledged the importance of eliminating the pandemic — and the possibility of new variants — around the world. The highly-contagious Omicron variant continues to spread in the US, now accounting for 99.9% of new cases in the last week.
