President Joe Biden stated on Friday that until other countries match the United States’ “generosity” by donating more Covid-19 vaccines, the pandemic would continue.
“Until we have universal vaccines, this pandemic will not stop,” he declared in a statement from Nantucket, where he was spending the Thanksgiving holiday.
Biden also urged countries to waive intellectual property restrictions in order to allow vaccines to be produced globally.
In reaction to the discovery of the potentially hazardous novel Omicron version of Covid-19 in South Africa, the US president issued an urgent plea while imposing travel restrictions on eight southern African countries.
“The news about this new variation should make it clearer than ever to the whole community why this pandemic will not stop until we get global immunizations,” Biden added.
“The US has already given more immunizations to foreign countries than all other countries combined. It is past time for other countries to follow America’s lead in terms of speed and generosity.”
He asked countries attending a World Trade Organization ministerial conference next week to lift intellectual property barriers on their coronavirus vaccines, allowing production to expand quickly.
“Today’s news emphasizes the urgency of moving forward fast,” he remarked.
