White House to announce shipment of 9 million Covid-19 vaccines to Africa

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will announce plans on Friday to ship 9 million Covid vaccines to Africa amid growing concerns about the omicron variant, a White House official said.

The new shipment brings the U.S.’s total donations to Africa to 100 million vaccines, according to the official. An additional two million vaccines will be sent elsewhere in the world, the official added.

The shipment is part of President Joe Biden’s Thursday pledge to send more than 200 million vaccines abroad in 100 days.

“The President has been clear from the start: If we want to protect the American people and our economy, we must defeat the virus everywhere,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients is expected to say during a briefing Friday morning, according to prepared remarks. “That means we must ensure the rest of the world gets vaccinated.”

Despite donations from the U.S. and other Western countries, African nations have largely struggled to vaccinate their populations. Many countries are still struggling with supply issues and logistical challenges — such as how to keep the Pfizer vaccine at cold temperatures — as well as vaccine hesitancy.

African leaders pushed back against the decision by Biden and other Western countries to impose travel restrictions on African nations, arguing that punitive measures were taken after South Africa shared information openly about the new variant.

The U.S. and other wealthy countries have been criticized for racing ahead with their vaccination programs, offering booster shots, while other countries have had difficulty accessing vaccines.

Roughly 10 percent of people in Africa have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, compared to the 64 percent that are vaccinated in North America and 62 percent in Europe.

Zients is also expected to say that the U.S. has shipped 280 million doses to 110 countries and reiterate the Biden administration’s commitment to donate 1.2 billion doses to foreign nations.

“For context, that means for every one shot the Biden Administration has administered in the U.S. to vaccinate Americans, we are donating about three doses to people around the world,” Zients will say.