U.S. Gayle Smith speaks in Washington, D.C., on April 5, following the announcement by Secretary of State Anthony Blinkan that he will be appointed Foreign Office Coordinator for Global Govt-19 Response and Health Care. Runners / AFP / Ball / Getty Images
Gayle Smith, co-ordinator of the State Department for Govt-19 and the Global Response to Health Care, has pledged to share internationally with President Biden that the United States will distribute 25 million Govt vaccines as part of the initial 80 million dose transs. Friday. He did not provide a schedule for vaccination.
Smith said the United States would distribute 25% of the first installment bilaterally.
Smith said the remaining 75% of the first batch of U.S. vaccines will go to COVAX, an international group focused on global vaccine distribution, and that the Biden administration has “identified the countries that want to get these vaccines.”
Smith said nearly 6 million doses will be distributed across Latin America, including the Caribbean, 7 million doses in South and Southeast Asia and 5 million doses in Africa.
“This is the first round, this is a start,” Smith said. She could not say when the 55 million dose, which would make a total of 80 million vaccines, would be given.
Going forward, Biden management will pursue a three-pronged strategy to increase vaccine supply through dose sharing, and will encourage U.S. manufacturers to increase vaccine production “in the last quarter, if not earlier this year and next year”. he said. . Smith said management would improve global vaccine production by increasing productivity, adding that “there are more locations in the world, manufacturers, capable of distributing vaccines.”
“Our goal is to end the epidemic and make it worse,” Smith said. “Doing this is in our best interests, and our health care is at stake … none of us are safe as long as we are all there.”