The US Has Donated 400 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Globally, as 10 Billion Doses are Administered Worldwide – Doing More but Not Enough
Author: Stephanie Stan
On January 26, 2022, the White House announced that the United States has shipped over 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. This milestone has established America as the global leader in COVID vaccine donations, shipping more donated doses than any other country. This achievement comes as the world hits its own milestone: administering 10 billion doses globally as of January 28, 2022. But as we’ve seen throughout the pandemic response, doing more is not the same as doing enough. While the US is out front in its commitments and actions, no country, and no multilateral organization, is doing enough to end the pandemic.
Global vaccine inequity, exacerbated by a lack of timely actual donations rather than pledges, places strains on the limited supply of COVID vaccines in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), especially as third doses have become recommended for some high-risk populations, despite the constrained global vaccine supply and low vaccination rates in LMICs. Global COVID cases surpassed 363 million and deaths surpassed 5.6 million, while low-income countries have achieved average full vaccination coverage of only 4%. Gaps in full vaccination coverage have created dire global need for countries to deliver on their pledged donations, especially with the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Shipping only 34% of the 1.2 billion vaccine doses that President Biden pledged in support of the goal to fully vaccinate 70% of the world by mid-2022 may seem underwhelming. However, considering that the total donated doses shipped by the U.S. surpass the pledged doses of any other country, and that the U.S. has pledged to donate more vaccine doses than any other country, this achievement sets America and its donation efforts apart from any other nation.