Statement: Mexico Vaccine Donations No Substitute for Increased Manufacturing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House announced today that the U.S. will share 2.5 million doses with Mexico and 1.5 million with Canada. At the same time, the U.S. is expected to pass 100 million vaccinations administered. Public Citizen previously called on President Joe Biden to invest $25 billion in a manufacturing program to help vaccinate the world. Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program, issued the following statement:
“Charitable sharing and rationing can’t be the only solution to the vaccine apartheid the world is experiencing today. Offering to Mexico doses the U.S. cannot use is no substitute for the ambitious manufacturing program that the world needs and that the U.S. can provide, for a fraction of the cost of inaction.
“As people across the U.S. appreciate this 100 million dose milestone, it is important to remember that for most of the world, there are no vaccines in sight and no foreseeable end to the pandemic. Instead of only rationing better, the U.S. can help the world manufacture more, and ration less, and in so doing better prepare capabilities to defend against coronavirus variants that may threaten people living in the U.S.
“President Biden should announce a plan to help the world make billions of more doses of COVID-19 vaccine within a year’s time. Each day we wait to be more ambitious about our global response, more people will lose their lives.”