U.S. Vowed to Help Prevent New Variants by Closing Global Vaccine Gap, But Plan’s Funding Is Stalled

As the Biden administration faces increased pressure to address global vaccine inequity, USAID administrator Samantha Power announced a plan Monday for the United States to spend an additional $400 million to help increase vaccine access internationally. The move came days after Vanity Fair revealed a $2.5 billion plan to thwart Omicron-like variants has been stalled inside the Biden administration. We speak with reporter Katherine Eban, who broke the story, and says vaccines are piling up in countries that lack the health infrastructure to distribute them quickly. “The problem is shifting from not enough doses to not enough support on the ground to administer doses.” She says the Biden administration has “good-faith” goals to reduce vaccine inequity, but “they have not gone and asked Congress for money in part because they’re facing a narrow Senate majority.” #DemocracyNow Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: https://democracynow.org Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today: https://democracynow.org/donate FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE: YouTube:    / democracynow   Facebook:   / democracynow   Twitter:   / democracynow   Instagram:   / democracynow   SoundCloud:   / democracynow   iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/demo... Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe