Speeches Shim
COVID-19 is one of the greatest health challenges our world has ever faced. To beat the virus in the United States, we must also fight it abroad. USAID’s work to end the pandemic is keeping Americans safe, saving lives around the world, and rebuilding the U.S. and global economies.
We need to attack this virus globally, not just at home, because it’s in America’s self-interest to do so. The virus knows no boundaries. —President Joe Biden
USAID’s Global Response
COVID-19 knows no borders and no one is safe until everyone is safe. USAID is working around the clock to help save lives and end the pandemic for all. Since the beginning of the pandemic, USAID has supported more than 120 countries to contain and combat the virus. To date, USAID has provided more than $9 billion to intensify the fight against COVID-19 around the world, pave the way to global recovery, and strengthen global health security.
Only through collaboration can we collectively overcome COVID-19. —Administrator Samantha Power
USAID’s Programs
USAID is building on decades of global health leadership combating infectious diseases such as Ebola, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria to now fight COVID-19. USAID programs are helping deliver vaccines and get shots in arms, expand access to COVID-19 testing and treatment, protect and train health workers, deliver life-saving health commodities and equipment, share reliable public health information, and safeguard global health security. Yet USAID is not just fighting the disease—USAID is fighting to secure decades of development progress that the pandemic is unwinding. USAID programs are keeping kids in school, providing emergency food and hygiene assistance, helping people find work, preventing democratic backsliding, addressing gender-based violence, and tackling other devastating impacts of the pandemic.
USAID is committed to building back a better world, one that is better prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to future biological threats, and where all people can live safe, prosperous, and healthy lives. — USAID COVID-19 Task Force Director Jeremy Konyndyk
Resources
- Private Sector Engagement
- USAID COVID-19 fact sheets
- USAID COVID-19 guidance for implementing partners
- American Rescue Plan
- U.S. Global Response and Recovery Framework
- COVID-19 Safety Plan & Workplace Guidelines (April, 2022)
- CDC COVID-19 information
- Get involved
The spread of COVID-19 has shown that an infectious disease threat anywhere can be a threat everywhere. USAID is dedicated to ending this pandemic for everyone, everywhere.
LATEST UPDATES
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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