Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said on Sunday that Joe Biden’s new guidelines about COVID-19 will be announced before the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Here’s what Murthy said on CNN’s “State of the Union”:
“The president will be making announcements ahead of the UN General Assembly about additional measures that we’re taking to help vaccinate the world.”
The session at which world leaders address the UN begins on September 21.
Meanwhile, Biden said on Thursday that he’d make the announcement, though it hasn’t signaled what would be the context.
But the U.S. has pledged to donate more than 600 million vaccine doses by mid-2022, though billions will be needed to curb the pandemic.
Biden’s previous efforts to muster global donations have fallen short of the target. Group of Seven leaders had hoped in June to announce a pledge of 1 billion new doses; instead, they reached only 613 million new doses that hadn’t been pledged already. That includes 500 million Pfizer doses from the U.S., which will begin the shipment in August.
The U.S. government, which steered early vaccine supplies to domestic use, has donated more than 140 million doses. That figure excludes doses sold directly by manufacturers’ U.S. facilities.
“We also know this virus transcends borders,” Biden said Thursday. “That’s why, even as we execute this plan at home, we need to continue fighting the virus overseas, continue to be the arsenal of vaccines.”
“There will be more actions that we continue to work on, especially in the global front,” he said.
Biden also required federal workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and mandate that large employers either require their workers to be vaccinated or regularly tested.
The next session of the General Assembly opens Tuesday; the first day of the general debate will be the following week.
Leave a Comment