SUBANG JAYA, July 5 — The United States has contributed one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to help Malaysia fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shipments of the vaccine arrived at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport near here today for distribution to vaccine centers nationwide.
Malaysia is one of the first countries to receive vaccines under President Biden’s plan to donate 80 million doses of vaccine around the world, announced in June, a statement published in the US Embassy’s website today said.
“This support will help protect the Malaysian people from the COVID-19 virus, allowing Malaysia to turn the page on the pandemic and focus on economic recovery.”
At the delivery, U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, Brian McFeeters, said the United States is committed to working with Malaysia to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve global health security. “The U.S. and Malaysia have a long, solid partnership in public health issues, and it is our top priority right now to assist Malaysia in saving lives. We are committed to working with the Malaysian government to support the National COVID-19 Immunization Program by increasing vaccine coverage and helping to achieve its target for recovery as quickly as possible.”
This vaccine allocation to Malaysia is part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to share U.S. vaccine supply around the globe. As we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and work to end the pandemic worldwide, President Biden has promised that the United States will be an arsenal of vaccines for the world.
The United States is the largest financial donor to COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing partnership, with a $4 billion financial pledge through 2022.
The United States also recently announced a landmark pledge to provide an additional 500 million vaccine doses to the world’s lowest-income nations via COVAX. In his statement, President Biden expressed the U.S. government’s commitment to building a more secure world against infectious diseases and driving the urgency for international vaccination efforts. “We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic.”
–WE