Today the United States welcomed the arrival in Argentina of 3.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine donated to the Argentine people to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
In a ceremony at the Ministro Pistarini International Airport to welcome the vaccines as they arrived, U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires MaryKay Carlson joined Argentina’s Chief of Cabinet Santiago Cafiero, Ministry of Health Chief of Staff Sonia Tarragona, Undersecretary of Health Strategy Juan Manuel Castelli, and Secretary of Access to Health Sandra Tirado. “The pandemic knows no borders, which makes it essential that we work together to combat the virus on a global basis. Our collaboration on vaccine distribution is essential to recovery everywhere,” said Chargé d’Affaires Carlson, as she welcomed the arrival of the donated shipment. “We are sharing these doses to help people in need and stimulate global economic recovery. The more people who can be vaccinated around the world, the safer we all are, and we are in this together.”
Separately, the United States has donated $2 billion to Gavi in support of COVAX, the United Nation’s multilateral vaccine distribution effort, making the United States the largest contributing country to this important multilateral effort.
In addition, President Biden announced in June that the United States will purchase 500 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to distribute to low- and lower-middle-income countries. The G7 also committed 500 million doses – amplifying this donation to one billion doses for the world.
On a bilateral basis, the United States government has donated more than $4 million in COVID-relief supplies directly to Argentina. During his visit to Argentina in April, U.S. Southern Command Admiral Craig S. Faller donated three field hospitals, search and rescue equipment, and other supplies to help fight the outbreak of COVID-19.
