IDSA and HIVMA Call for Greater U.S. Leadership in Accelerating Global Vaccine Equity

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and its HIV Medicine Association support the Biden Administration’s call for new global commitments to control the COVID-19 pandemic and applaud the Administration’s initial steps of donating vaccine doses and making financial contributions to COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative. 

IDSA and HIVMA leadership have called on the Biden Administration to accelerate U.S. leadership in achieving global COVID-19 vaccine equity in a letter sent yesterday. More will need to be done to accelerate vaccine equity and achieve the Administration’s call to vaccinate 70% of the global population. Currently, less than 1% of vaccines have been administered in low-income countries. While wealthy countries have committed to donate 1 billion doses, to date only 15% of those doses have reached low- and middle-income countries.

IDSA and HIVMA urge the Administration to immediately share excess doses that are not needed for the U.S. population and support efforts to strengthen infrastructure that enables vaccine manufacturing, distribution and administration in low- and middle- income countries.  

Ensuring that vaccines are accessible to the global population better protects everyone and helps prevent virus mutations and potentially dangerous variants that hold the potential to evade current vaccines and undo the hard-won gains made in the U.S. 

IDSA and HIVMA urge the United States to use the full might of its global leadership to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible for all.