US will share Covid-19 vaccines with world if there is surplus: Biden

The United States will share coronavirus vaccines with other countries if it ends up with a surplus, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.

"If we have a surplus, we are going to share with the rest of the world," Biden said noting the US has already committed USD 4 billion to Covax, the United Nations program for distributing the vaccine across the world according to The Hill.

"This is not something that can be stopped by a fence, no matter how high you build a fence or a wall... So we're not going to be ultimately safe until the world is safe. We're going to start off making sure Americans are taken care of first, but we're then going to try to help the rest of the world," he added

 

The President stated that there is "real reason for hope" in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, while praising two pharmaceutical companies for coming together to produce more vaccine doses.

"There is light at the end of this dark tunnel of the past year... We cannot let our guard down now or assume that victory is inevitable," he said

Previewing his primetime address to the nation on Thursday night, Biden said he is "going to talk about what comes next. I'm going to launch the next phase of the COVID response and explain what we will do as a government, and what we will ask of the American people."

He made the remarks at the White House standing next to Alex Gorsky, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson, and Ken Frazier, the CEO of Merck, during an event to celebrate the partnership between the two companies. Merck will help produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

"I want to thank the two companies for showing how we can come together and defeat this virus," Biden said, adding they were putting "patriotism and public health first."

Biden reiterated an announcement earlier in the day that he is directing his administration to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, The Hill reported.