The United States is set to announce the purchase of an additional 500 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to donate to low- and lower-middle-income countries around the world, a senior Biden Administration Official informed on Wednesday.
This new commitment will bring our total to over 1.1 billion vaccines donated to the world.
"So, tomorrow, President Biden will announce that the US is purchasing an additional 500 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to donate to low- and lower-middle-income countries around the world," said senior Administration Official Previewing the Global Summit to End COVID-19.
A senior official said that the donations are being made "free of charge, no strings attached".
"These half a billion vaccines will be made here in the United States by American workers. They'll start shipping out in January. And that means from January through September of next year, we will ship out 800 million vaccines to the world," the official added.
The official further stated that the US has committed to donating over 600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world so far. "That includes 500 million Pfizer doses that the US purchased earlier this summer to donate to 100 countries in need -- the largest donation of COVID-19 vaccines by a single country ever."
Overall, the United States has now shipped nearly 160 million of these doses to 100 countries around the world -- from Peru to Pakistan, Sri Lanka to Sudan, El Salvador to Ethiopia.
( With inputs from ANI )
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