The summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in southwest England saw global leaders pledging at least 1 billion Covid-19 vaccines for underdeveloped countries and struggling nations.
The United States will continue to press for a waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments even as it and other Group of Seven rich nations sharply expand donations of vaccines to poorer countries.
The United States on June 10 raised the pressure on other Group of Seven (G7) leaders to share their vaccine hoards to bring an end to the pandemic by pledging to donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to the world’s poorest countries.
Johnson & Johnson said on June 10 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the shelf life of the company’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine from three months to four-and-a-half months, as millions of unused doses nationwide near expiration.
The Biden administration plans to donate 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries over the next two years, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on June 9.
A report on the origins of Covid-19 by a U.S. government national laboratory concluded that the hypothesis of a virus leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, the Wall Street Journal said on June 7, citing people familiar with the classified document.
Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and science adviser for the White House, said in an interview that he wants to have an available vaccine that can fight the next pandemic in about 100 days after recognizing the initial outbreak.
From free beer to free childcare, President Joe Biden on June 2 touted new efforts to get 70 percent of U.S. adults at least one shot of vaccination against Covid-19 by the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
A deal on an intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO) was no closer to acceptance on May 31 despite Washington’s backing, due to expected scepticism about a new draft, sources close to the talks told Reuters.
President Joe Biden ordered aides to find answers to the origin of the virus that causes Covid-19, saying on May 26 that U.S. intelligence agencies are pursuing rival theories potentially including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China.
