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Added on the 15/05/2021 09:02:05 - Copyright : Euronews EN
The EU is to donate another 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to low-income countries, more than doubling its present pledge, the bloc's chief Ursula von der Leyen announces. SOUNDBITE
The Director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urges countries to donate 10 mn vaccine doses 'immediately' to Covax, the mechanism created to give equitable access to vaccine globally. SOUNDBITE
The United States commits to donating 80 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine abroad by the end of the month, White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients says during a news briefing. "We will continue to donate additional doses across the summer months as supply becomes available," Zients says. SOUNDBITE
The United States will release an additional 20 million doses of Covid vaccine to other countries, bringing the total being shipped out to 80 million. Speaking at her daily briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters "the United States will send 20 million doses authorized for use in the United States to help countries battling the pandemic by the end of June". SOUNDBITE
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urges rich countries to stop jumping the queue and making bilateral deals for the first wave of Covid-19 vaccines. SOUNDBITE
Across the country, some non-healthcare workers are getting their COVID-19 vaccines earlier than expected. In a scattershot practice, non-priority people are getting vaccinated ahead of schedule when pharmacies have extra doses thawed that must be used. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines need to be stored at cold temperatures and used within hours of thawing. Business Insider reports the phenomenon occurs when vaccine providers must either throw out extra doses when they expire or give them to random people. In other instances, confusion about the amount of doses per vial and rumors of excess supply have led to mishaps in vaccine allocation. The US federal government hasn't specified what should be done when there are more thawed doses than eligible recipients.