On Thursday, Anthony Fauci informed the World Health Organization that the Biden administration will participate in WHOâs vaccine-sharing project. That reverses President Donald Trumpâs âAmerica Firstâ approach. Fauci says the goal is to ensure âequitable accessâ to vaccines for all countries in the world, rich and poor alike.
Americans scrambling to get vaccinated have a right to know how sharing doses with poor countries will affect their own ability to get vaccinated.
Biden is coming under pressure from the public health community to share the vaccine supply the U.S. has prepurchased before all Americans who want shots receive them.
POLITICO
Get the POLITICO Nightly newsletter
Email
Sign Up
By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc.
With help from Myah Ward
98 DAYS TO GO On this first full day on the job, President Joe Biden reset expectations on his single biggest campaign promise: an end to the pandemic.
“It’s going to take months for us to turn things around,” he said today.
Covid-19 pandemic
Friday 8 January 2021, by Sharon Lerner
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla recently heaped praise on “the almost 44,000 people who selflessly raised their hands to participate in our trial.”
“Each of you has helped to bring the world one step closer to our shared goal of a potential vaccine to fight this devastating pandemic,” Bourla wrote in an open letter to volunteers who took part in Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine research, which was conducted in Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and Turkey as well as the U.S. His letter was published on November 9, the same day Pfizer announced that the vaccine was more than 90 percent effective at preventing the disease, and Bourla laid this considerable accomplishment at the feet of the medical volunteers: “You are the true heroes, and the whole world owes you a tremendous debt of gratitude.”
Boxes containing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch on Dec. 20, 2020 in Olive Branch, Miss.Photo: Paul Sancya/Pool/Getty ImagesBoxes containing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch on Dec. 20, 2020 in Olive Branch, Miss.Photo: Paul Sancya/Pool/Getty Images
World Faces Covid-19 âVaccine Apartheidâ
Even countries that hosted vaccine trials â like Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and Turkey â will not receive adequate supplies.
December 31 2020, 2:52Â p.m.
Boxes containing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch on Dec. 20, 2020 in Olive Branch, Miss.Photo: Paul Sancya/Pool/Getty ImagesBoxes containing the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch on Dec. 20, 2020 in Olive Branch, Miss.Photo:
“Even with the unprecedented levels of public financing and the accelerated pace of bringing such vaccines to market, global demand will vastly outstrip available supply during this scale-up period. Intense interest has focused on which countries and when populations will have access to safe and effective vaccine candidates emerging from research and development,” the Johns Hopkins University researchers said in their study.
Higher income countries, including the European Union bloc, have secured deals to purchase 51% of vaccine doses although they only make up less than 14% of the world’s population. Only six of the 13 manufacturers who’ve made vaccine deals have sold to low- and middle-income countries.