Speeches Shim
USAID Operating Status
Last updated: May 16, 2022
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has consistently come together in an inspiring show of bipartisan support to fund our response. The $10 billion agreement announced this afternoon, while helping to fund our immediate domestic needs like treatments and tests, unfortunately leaves out the resources we need to power our global COVID response—an effort that is critical to preventing the emergence of new deadly variants and moving the world beyond this pandemic
With an additional 3.5 million Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines arriving in Jakarta on April 3, the United States has donated 35.8 million doses to Indonesia and over a half billion vaccines to more than 110 countries in every region of the world. As of March 17, the United States has delivered over 500 million COVID-19 vaccines globally—more doses than any other nation. For every vaccine administered in the United States, nearly one more has been shipped overseas. This is an important milestone, achieved in just nine months, towards reaching President Biden’s pledge to donate more than 1.2 billion safe and effective vaccines worldwide.
On April 1, 2022, Administrator Power met with Bono, cofounder of ONE and (RED), to discuss the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
On March 25, in a ceremony at the Ministry of Health, USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock joined UNICEF to mark their recent provision of $1 million in life-saving equipment and vaccine administration supplies to Vietnam to assist with its COVID-19 response. The equipment and supplies, funded by USAID and delivered through UNICEF between November 2021 and February 2022, include 2.5 million syringes, 125,000 N95 face masks and 250 portable patient monitors. Throughout the COVID-19 global pandemic, USAID and UNICEF have worked in partnership with the Ministry of Health to bolster Vietnam’s risk communication and community engagement, and to improve infection prevention, control and response efforts. UNICEF, as the primary COVAX partner in-country, has worked to bring in more than 36 million U.S. Government-supported COVID-19 vaccines to-date.
Nearly a year ago, President Biden announced that the United States would be the “arsenal of vaccines for the world,” just as America served as an arsenal for democracies during World War II. With the president’s leadership and the consistent bipartisan support of Congress, the United States has delivered more than half a billion coronavirus vaccines to 114 lower-income countries free of charge, a historic accomplishment. This example spurred contributions from other wealthy nations and contributed to vaccination of almost 60 percent of the world.
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