Biden Hosts Global COVID-19 Summit

On Sept. 22, 2021, Biden convened heads of state, leaders from international organizations, notable figures from private sectors, and other partners for a virtual conference known as COVID-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better.

There were four key themes of the summit:

• Vaccinate the world
• Save lives now
• Build back better
• Calling the world to account

In accordance with these objectives, President Biden announced how the United States is planning on playing their part. Most notably, he declared that the US would donate an additional 500 million Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to low- and lower-middle income countries. This almost doubles the number of doses donated by the US to over 1.1 billion doses.

Notable financial commitments made by President Biden on behalf of the US include $370 million toward global vaccine readiness, $250 million toward existing response efforts, and $1.4 billion towards reducing morbidity and mortality from COVID-19, mitigating transmission, and strengthening health systems, among others.

Biden also expressed interest in expanding production of mRNA, viral vector, and/or protein subunit COVID-19 vaccines for low- and lower-middle income countries. He called on other countries to prioritize vaccine tracking, response, and prevention.

“We’re not going to solve this crisis with half-measures or middle-of-the-road ambitions,” said Biden at the conference. “We need to go big. And we need to do our part: governments, the private sector, civil society leaders, philanthropists. This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis.”

Source: White House