Biden says U.S. will have sent 80M COVID-19 vaccine doses overseas by end of June

In remarks delivered at the White House on Monday, President Biden said that by the end of June, the U.S. will have shared 80 million doses of coronavirus vaccines with other countries.

Video Transcript

JOE BIDEN: Now over the past 118 days, our vaccination program has led the world. And today, we're taking an additional step to help the world. We know America will never be fully safe until the pandemic that's raging globally is under control.

No oceans wide enough, no walls high enough to keep us safe. Rampant disease and death in other countries can destabilize them. Those countries all pose a risk to us as well. New variants could arise overseas that could put us at greater risk. And we need to help fight the disease around the world to keep us safe here at home and to do the right thing of helping other people.

It's the right thing to do. It's the smart thing to do. It's the strong thing to do.

In March, we shared over 4 million doses of our AstraZeneca vaccine with Canada and Mexico. At the end of April, we announced that we would provide another $60 million doses of our AstraZeneca vaccine overseas. Remember, this is the vaccine that's not authorized for use in the United States yet.

So we're going to be sending it to folks once the FDA's reviewed this and said it's safe. This is all the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in the United States, all of it, will be sent to other countries. And today, I'm announcing they will also share US authorized vaccine doses of Pfizer, and Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson as they become available with the rest of the world as well.

These are vaccinations and vaccines that are authorized to be put in arms of Americans. And by the end of June, when we will have taken delivery of enough of such vaccines to protect everyone in the United States, the United States will share at least 20 million of those doses, that extra supply with other countries. This means over the next six weeks, the United States of America will send 80 million doses overseas.

That represents 13% of the vaccines produced by the United States by the end of June. This will be more vaccines than any country has actually shared to date, five times more than any other country, more than Russia, China, which have donated 15 million doses. You know, there's a lot of talk about Russia and China influence in the world with vaccines.

We want to lead the world with our values with this demonstration of our innovation and genuinity and the fundamental decency of the American people. Just as in World War II, America was the arsenal of democracy, in the battle against COVID pandemic, our nation is going to be the arsenal of vaccines for the rest of the world. We'll share these vaccines in the service of ending the pandemic everywhere. And we will not use our vaccines to secure favors from other countries.