US and EU to donate 1.7 billion doses of vaccine globally

The United States and the European Union are expected to donate around 1.7 billion doses of the vaccine globally by mid-2022 following a meeting last week between senior officials from the EU and US, announced the European Commission.

Senior European Commission officials met with senior White House officials and other US government officials last week to discuss progress and next steps towards achieving the US-EU agenda to defeat the global pandemic. , immunize the world, save lives now and rebuild better health security.

Under the leadership of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Chief of Staff, Björn Seibert, and US Deputy Senior National Security Advisor Jon Finer, the two sides agreed on the importance of the transatlantic partnership and leadership. to end the pandemic and strengthen long-term global health security. .

After a briefing on the Omicron variant and recent developments by the Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission, Dr Piot, the Chief Medical Advisor of the United States, Dr Fauci, the Director of the US Centers for Disease Control United, Dr. Walensky, the two sides discussed a number of areas, including: ongoing efforts to donate and distribute more than 1.7 billion doses of vaccine globally by mid-2022; accelerating efforts to put bullets into arms, including assistance to countries in need; and other areas such as COVID-19 supply chain cooperation, joint health and R&D threat assessments and more. Both delegations reiterated their call for stronger actions and commitments by nations around the world in this effort.

Delegations also stressed that bold action is needed to prepare for the next pandemic. Both sides agreed on the importance of an Intermediate Financial Fund (FIF) for global health security and pandemic preparedness with sustainable capitalization, and noted that we will work with EU member states, the G20. , lower middle income countries, the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations to achieve this goal.