The U.S. will reportedly purchase 500 million Pfizer doses, donate them worldwide

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The United States is about to ramp up its global COVID-19 vaccine donation efforts, three people familiar with the Biden administration's plans told The Washington Post.

Biden will reportedly announce during a Group of Seven meeting in the United Kingdom this week that the U.S. will purchase 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and designate them specifically for worldwide distribution over the next year. The White House had previously said it would share 80 million doses with other countries by the end of June, so this appears to be a significant development as the gap in vaccine accessibility between rich and poor countries grows more glaring.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.