By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States plans to donate an additional 500 million COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE to nations around the world, lifting the total the country is sharing to more than 1 billion doses, according to a source familiar with the plans.
President Joe Biden is hosting a virtual summit on COVID-19 on Wednesday and is likely to announce the new pledge then.
Earlier on Tuesday, Biden told United Nations General Assembly that the United States had put more than $15 billion toward the global response to COVID-19 in order to fund more than 160 million COVID-19 vaccines in other countries.
The U.S. had already purchased 500,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and donated them through the global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX.
Vaccines had already landed in 100 countries, Biden said, adding he would announce additional commitments on Wednesday at a U.S.-hosted global COVID-19 summit.
The United States is pushing global leaders to endorse its targets for ending the COVID-19 pandemic, including ensuring 70% of the world’s population is vaccinated by the 2022, according to a draft U.S. document viewed by Reuters.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by David Gregorio)
