{"id":113577,"date":"2021-02-19T15:49:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T15:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=113577"},"modified":"2021-02-19T15:49:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T15:49:40","slug":"biden-to-pledge-4-bln-towards-global-covid-19-vaccination-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/biden-to-pledge-4-bln-towards-global-covid-19-vaccination-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden To Pledge $4 Bln Towards Global Covid-19 Vaccination Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
President Joe Biden is expected to announce $4 billion U.S. aid to boost an international effort to purchase and distribute coronavirus<\/span> vaccine to poor nations, White House officials said on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n Biden will make the pledge at the virtual meeting of G-7 countries Friday. He will join leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan to mark his presidential debut on the world stage.<\/p>\n Biden had confirmed after his inauguration last month that the United States would rejoin the World Health Organization to strengthen global health<\/span>. He also promised to contribute to Covax, an initiative by WHO to improve developing nations’ access to anti-COVID vaccines through a multilateral mechanism.<\/p>\n The Congress had approved $4 billion in US funding late last year. <\/p>\n At a White House briefing Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki indicated that there would be more news “in the next 24 hours on our engagements and contributions to the overall global effort.”<\/p>\n “Our commitment is to work with and through COVAX to ensure that there is equitable distribution of vaccines and funding globally, and also that there is a standard through which these vaccines are considered and distributed,” she told reporters. <\/p>\n Ahead of the summit, leaders of Britain and France had called for G7 support to facilitate the roll-out of vaccines to poorer countries.<\/p>\n In an interview with the Financial Times, French President Emmanuel Macron urged the governments of Europe and the U.S. to urgently send up to 5 percent of their COVID vaccine supplies to poor nations. <\/p>\n