President Joe Biden announced the United States plans on assisting other countries in their fight against COVID-19 by supplying them with 20 million vaccine doses.
“We know America will never be fully safe until the pandemic that’s raging globally is under control,” Biden said while delivering remarks on Monday.
He noted the United States in March shared over 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with Canada and Mexico.
“At the end of April, we announced that we would provide another 60 million doses of our AstraZeneca vaccine overseas,” Biden continued.
Watch his remarks below:
Biden announces U.S. will send 20 million doses of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines to other countries by the end of June. This is in addition to sending 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not yet authorized for U.S. use https://t.co/usuAnHiZmp pic.twitter.com/3MhtXbqC4B
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 17, 2021
The president explained the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been authorized for use in the United States yet, adding, “We’re going to be sending it to folks once the FDA’s reviewed this and said it’s safe.”
He went on to reveal the nation will also share doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines with other countries.
“By the end of June, when we’ll have taken delivery of enough of such vaccines to protect everyone in the United States, the United States will share at least 20 million of those doses… with other countries,” Biden said.
He continued, “This means over the next six weeks, the United States of America will send 80 million doses overseas. That represents 13% of the vaccines produced by the United States by the end of June.”
Biden also pointed out the number of vaccines donated is “more vaccines than any country has actually shared to date, five times more than any other country.”
In the United States alone more than 344 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed and over 272 million have been administered.