The United States is committed to defeating the COVID-19 pandemic, both at home and abroad, and has been instrumental in the global response to fight the virus. To date, the U.S. government has responded in more than 120 countries to fight against COVID-19.
The emergence of COVID-19 hotspots and the Delta and Omicron variants underscore the importance of this global fight. Vaccinating the world is the best way to prevent the emergence of future variants that could threaten the health of Americans and undermine our economic recovery. As more COVID-19 vaccine supply flows to low- and middle-income countries, the United States and other donors must redouble efforts to help countries efficiently receive, distribute, and administer doses.
As part of the U.S. government’s commitment to global frontline efforts to get shots into arms and save lives around the world, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power announced the U.S. Government’s Initiative for Global Vaccine Access, or Global VAX for short. Led by USAID in close partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other U.S. agencies and departments, Global VAX is a U.S. government effort contributing to the global goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the population of every country against COVID-19 in 2022. It builds on the extraordinary commitment President Biden has made to donate more than 1.2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 and intensifies U.S. efforts to get shots in arms. This initiative will expand assistance and enhance international coordination to identify and rapidly overcome vaccine access barriers, with a specific emphasis on scaling up vaccination support in sub-Saharan Africa. Global VAX includes bolstering cold chain supply and logistics, service delivery, vaccine confidence and demand, human resources, data and analytics, local planning, and vaccine safety and effectiveness.
As of May 2022, the United States has already donated over half a billion COVID-19 vaccines, all free of charge, to more than 115 countries in every region of the world—more doses than any other nation.