Worldwide deaths related to Covid-19 surpassed 5 million on Oct. 1, according to a Reuters tally, with unvaccinated people particularly exposed to the virulent Delta strain.
The United States plans to donate an additional 500 million Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to nations around the world, lifting the total the country is sharing to more than 1 billion doses, according to a source familiar with the plans.
The White House laid out a plan to share 55 million U.S. Covid-19 vaccine doses globally, with roughly 75 percent of the doses allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing program.
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 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.
India’s export ban on Covid-19 shots risks dragging the battle against the pandemic “back to square one” unless wealthy nations step in to plug a gaping hole in the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme, health specialists said on May 20.
The World Health Organization urged rich countries on May 14 to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate Covid-19 shots to the COVAX scheme that shares them with poorer nations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) approved for emergency use a Covid-19 vaccine from China’s state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm on May 7, bolstering Beijing’s push for a bigger role in inoculating the world.
The European Commission called on May 7 on the United States and other major Covid-19 vaccine producers to export what they make as the European Union does, rather than talk about waiving intellectual property rights to the shots.
The global supply of Covid-19 vaccine is “incredibly tight” and the COVAX dose-sharing facility is unlikely to procure much more supply in 2021 than doses already reserved, the Gavi vaccine alliance ceo Seth Berkley said on April 15.
