Biden to announce US will donate $4 billion for COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries

ldhrn73

ABC News 2/18/21

Biden to announce US will donate $4 billion for COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries

Quote

President Joe Biden plans to announce on Friday that the United States will contribute $2 billion to a U.N.-backed program seeking to distribute COVID-19 vaccine doses to people in the poorest countries in the world, according to senior Biden administration officials.

Congress had already allocated the money in December for the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide to Gavi, an international vaccine distribution alliance. Congress provided a total of $4 billion and the officials said that the U.S. would give the rest to Gavi over the course of this year and 2022.

The move, which the White House said Biden intends to announce during a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven leaders...

... To date, 10 countries have administered 75% of all COVID-19 vaccines, while more than 130 countries have not yet received a single dose, the United Nations said Wednesday....

**hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I** · Feb 19, 2021

We should not be donating funds or vaccines to foriegn interests until every American citizen has been vaccinated.

MarkMyWords · Feb 20, 2021

I agree with you there. So someone in Asia or Africa will get the vaccine before I do? Besides, the U.S. budget is already a trillion in debt, isn't it?

**NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN** · Feb 21, 2021

Agree with this sentiment:

**hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I** · Feb 21, 2021

3 hours ago, NRSKarenRN said:

Agree with this sentiment:

I just know that people here in Southern California are being turned away due to a shortage of vaccine, When every American or resident of the US who wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated - that should be Biden's priority.

macawake, MSN · Feb 21, 2021

Last week I had a conversation with my 25-year-old nephew and he was upset that rich countries are hogging vaccine doses. He asked why he should be offered a vaccine before a 60-year-old nurse with hypertension or someone’s beloved grandparent when they would benefit from the protection of a vaccine much more than he would. What should we answer him? We’re rich so our lives are more valuable...? Oh sweetie, we don’t really give a crap about those Asians and Africans...? It’s a dog-eat-dog world you know....

My nephew is perfectly willing to delay his vaccination so that more vulnerable individuals elsewhere can get the vaccine first. I think that many more feel the same way. I’m healthy, mid-fourties and would gladly have waited a bit longer if I hadn’t worked as a nurse.

In my opinion we should all share with the rest of the world. The EU, Canada, Australia, the UK and the US have all bought doses to vaccinate their populations many times over. We should share for humanitarian reasons AND for economical reasons.

The economy will not rebound properly until the pandemic abates in all countries. Individual countries’ economies are dependent on world economy. In today’s interconnected world our economy does not grow or contract in isolation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/business/coronavirus-vaccines-global-economy.html

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we selfishly made sure to vaccinate every single one of us until we give a single dose to them, only to have several escape mutants render the vaccines close to useless... I guess we could all sit there with hermetically sealed borders, in fear of people from other countries and continents..

It makes economic sense to distribute the vaccines more equitably. One would also hope that we can be motivated by humanitarian values, or in the case of the U.S.; Christian values...

The me, me, me philosophy literally makes me ?

Good for the current administration for being both decent people and economically savvy when it comes to combatting the global pandemic.

MarkMyWords · Feb 22, 2021

Yeah, but why must America be the world's caregiver? Why not other nations, such as China?

macawake, MSN · Feb 23, 2021

On 2/21/2021 at 12:04 AM, Mywords1 said:

I agree with you there. So someone in Asia or Africa will get the vaccine before I do?

18 hours ago, Mywords1 said:

Yeah, but why must America be the world's caregiver? Why not other nations, such as China?

I’m assuming your most recent post was a reply to my post? I specifically listed several rich countries who have bought enough doses to vaccinate their own populations several times over that I think ought to help less wealthy countries. I didn’t say that the U.S. should shoulder the entire burden.

I also explained why I think so. Because it helps the world economy recover more quickly and that benefits everyone financially, including Americans. I personally also think we have a moral obligation as human beings but I guess some might feel differently.

On 2/21/2021 at 8:56 AM, macawake said:

Last week I had a conversation with my 25-year-old nephew and he was upset that rich countries are hogging vaccine doses. He asked why he should be offered a vaccine before a 60-year-old nurse with hypertension or someone’s beloved grandparent when they would benefit from the protection of a vaccine much more than he would. What should we answer him?

My nephew is perfectly willing to delay his vaccination so that more vulnerable individuals elsewhere can get the vaccine first. I think that many more feel the same way.

You specialize in ethics. I’m curious to know what you would have answered my nephew if he had posed his question to you instead of to me?

I think that China does contribute to COVAX? But even if they didn’t, should doing the right thing really be conditional? If China or any other random country doesn’t contribute then neither should the U.S., the EU, Australia or Canada etc.? The current U.S. administration has pledged a generous amount and I think that reflects well on them. I also think it makes good ”business” sense.

https://apnews.com/article/world-news-china-coronavirus-pandemic-42eef1911402f4ff13744fc87891c2aa

turtlesRcool · Feb 25, 2021

On 2/21/2021 at 2:56 AM, macawake said:

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we selfishly made sure to vaccinate every single one of us until we give a single dose to them, only to have several escape mutants render the vaccines close to useless.

This already happened. The S. African mutation has rendered the Astra Zeneca vaccine basically useless. The AZ vaccine is still quite effective against the original strain and the B117 mutation in the UK, but it's so ineffective against B.1.351 that South Africa isn't even distributing the AZ doses they bought. Let that sink in - in the midst of this crisis South Africa is warehousing vaccines they paid for because the vaccine is too useless to use. So like half of the UK got the AZ vaccine, yet those people are basically unprotected if B.1.351 gains a foothold there.

What if the next mutation in a developing country escapes the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine? Then we're going to wish we put that effort into vaccinating people abroad.

It's a PANdemic. We need to fight it on a global scale.

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Mar 4, 2021

The USA is in serious debt, we are having trouble vaccinating.....housing....feeding our own.....we need serious help. Now we take on more debt to vaccinate other countries? I get it. They need help. So how about an equal donation from other better off counties around the world? Communist China could lend a hand...instead of charging people thousands of dollars for N95 masks that may or may not be real so we may have some protection while we work. Sorry. We don’t have extra money to throw around but we should try to help- the same amount as the other countries around the world. Has anyone matched our generosity? Because it will be our grand children paying the bill so many decades later. And since we are in debt, who gave us the money to donate? Loans have interest, unless funded by those who will get political ‘favors’ later.

toomuchbaloney · Mar 4, 2021

The USA is home to some almost obscenely wealthy people and corporations, there's no good reason for it to remain "in serious debt".

nursej22, MSN, RN · Mar 4, 2021

17 hours ago, NurseSpeedy said:

So how about an equal donation from other better off counties around the world? Communist China could lend a hand...instead of charging people thousands of dollars for N95 masks that may or may not be real so we may have some protection while we work. Sorry. We don’t have extra money to throw around but we should try to help- the same amount as the other countries around the world. Has anyone matched our generosity?

This was published the first week of February:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/china-send-10-million-coronavirus-vaccine-doses-abroad-75652772