U.S. Has Donated Just a Third of Promised COVID Shots to U.N.’s Global Vaccine Effort

U.S. Has Donated Just a Third of Promised COVID Shots to U.N.’s Global Vaccine Effort

As the omicron strain of the coronavirus spreads worldwide, it has been revealed that the United States has not donated the number of vaccinations it promised to the United Nations.

According to a new report by the Associated Press, the U.S. has only donated 275 million of its promised vaccines to the U.N's COVAX shot-sharing program. This revelation comes after the country spent months trying to block overseas vaccine sales and ingredient exports. Meanwhile, the European Union has donated around a third of its promised 400 million doses. Most of the vaccines that have been donated are AstraZeneca's doses, with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna doses being in short supply.

This shortage of vaccine donations has been one instance of what many consider to be vaccine hoarding by wealthy countries. As a result, poorer countries have not been able to obtain vaccine dosages that can protect their populations. COVAX was created by the U.N. to prevent this, but the organization is low on dosages.