Reps. Lee and Bass Call on Administration to Donate 100 million Additional Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine to African Nations
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and Congresswoman Karen Bass (CA-37), Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights, joined by an additional 13 CBC members, sent a letter calling on the Administration to donate and urge other countries to donate 100 million additional vaccines to African nations.
African nations have received 19.7 million U.S. vaccine donations – yet only 2% of Africans have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Africa has the highest COVID-19 death rate in the world and COVID-19 infections are rapidly increasing due to the emergence of the Delta variant and a lack of vaccines and public health resources.
“As Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, we support the United States’ commitment to fight the COVID-19 crisis domestically and globally. We urge your Administration to donate 100 million vaccines to Africa above current donations and encourage other countries to donate an additional 100 million as quickly as possible,” the lawmakers wrote.
“African nations are experiencing an increasingly urgent COVID crisis and need at least 200 million vaccine doses by the end of September to slow the spread and prevent more needless deaths,” the lawmakers continued. “The longer it takes to vaccinate the world, the more variants we will see and the longer this pandemic will continue. We must commit to donating more doses now and support their effective and equitable distribution."
For a link to the full letter, click here.