U.S. to donate 500 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to global supply
CBSN
Washington — The Biden administration is purchasing 500 million more doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to donate to low- and middle-income countries, which will bring the total number of shots committed by the U.S. for the global supply to 1.1 billion, the White House said.
The president is poised to announce the latest purchase during a virtual COVID summit he is convening Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The doses of Pfizer's vaccine will begin shipping out to countries in January, a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. has so far committed to giving more than 600 million vaccine doses to other nations, a figure that includes the 500 million Pfizer shots bought by the Biden administration in June for low- and middle-income countries. Nearly 160 million of these vaccine doses have been shipped abroad thus far.
