WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden said Monday that the U.S. will share an additional 20 million doses of covid-19 vaccines with the world in the coming six weeks as domestic demand drops and global disparities in distribution have grown more evident.
The doses will come from excess supplies of Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, marking the first time that U.S.-controlled doses of vaccines authorized for use in the country will be shared overseas. It will boost the global vaccine-sharing commitment from the U.S. to 80 million doses.
"We know America will never be fully safe until the pandemic that's raging globally is under control," Biden said at the White House.
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The announcement comes on top of the Biden administration's prior commitment to share about 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is not yet authorized for use in the U.S., by the end of June. The AstraZeneca doses will be available to ship once they clear a safety review by the Food and Drug Administration.
Biden also tapped covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients to lead the administration's efforts to share doses with the world.
"Our nation's going to be the arsenal of vaccines for the rest of the world," Biden said. He added that, compared with countries such as Russia and China that have sought to leverage their domestically produced doses, "we will not use our vaccines to secure favors from other countries."
The Biden administration hasn't yet said how the vaccine doses in the new commitment will be shared or which countries will receive them.
To date, the U.S. has shared about 4.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine with Canada and Mexico. Additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine manufactured in the U.S. have begun to be exported as the company has met its initial contract commitments to the federal government.
The U.S. has faced growing pressure to share more of its vaccine stockpile with the world as interest in vaccines has waned domestically.
"While wealthy countries continue ramping up vaccinations, less than 1% of covid-19 vaccine doses globally have been administered to people in low-income countries," said Tom Hart, the acting CEO of the ONE Campaign. "The sooner the U.S. and other wealthy countries develop a coordinated strategy for sharing vaccine doses with the world's most vulnerable, the faster we will end the global pandemic for all."
More than 157 million Americans have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine, and 123 million are fully vaccinated against the disease. Biden hopes the U.S. will have 160 million people fully vaccinated by July Fourth.
Globally, more than 3.3 million people are confirmed to have died from the coronavirus. The U.S. has seen the largest confirmed loss of life from covid-19, at more than 586,000 people.
Meanwhile, coronavirus case counts are dropping significantly in the Northeast, which state officials -- who are still worried about the potential for variants -- attributed to the ongoing vaccination push.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have all reported sharp drops in cases in recent weeks as more people receive vaccinations. New York and New Jersey have also seen steady declines in cases after struggling to contain the virus earlier this spring.
Reported cases across the United States reached a high in January. As vaccinations accelerated, they fell through February and most of March. A much smaller overall surge peaked in mid-April, but cases have dropped about 32% over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Hospitalizations and deaths are also ticking down, even as the pace of vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks.
In Rhode Island, confirmed cases have dropped 48% and hospitalizations have dropped 23% in the past two weeks. State officials attribute the fall in cases to increased vaccinations.
"It's the vaccinations," Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee said, adding that "the vaccinations are really our focus right now."
State officials are still worried about the threat of more contagious variants of the virus, he said. And even though Rhode Island's vaccination campaign is ahead of those in most states, McKee said that convincing people who were hesitant was still a challenge. About 57% of Rhode Island's population has received at least one dose, and 46% has been fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times vaccination tracker.
In Pennsylvania, reported cases have dropped 44% and hospitalizations have dropped 28% in the past two weeks. Cases in the state started to rise in mid-March and continued to climb for weeks before reversing course in late April.
Alison Beam, Pennsylvania's acting secretary of health, said the state's vaccination effort had "made great strides," which had led to the decreases. About 55% of the state's population has received at least one shot, and 39% has been fully inoculated.
"One of our greatest hesitancy strategies is making it really convenient for folks, and we've been able to do that by spreading out the vaccine to more of our provider networks more recently because the supply has increased as well," Beam said.
N.Y. REOPENING
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that vaccinated residents can let go of pandemic restrictions like wearing masks or social distancing and "get back to life," as he announced a spate of moves heralding the state's reopening.
"If you are vaccinated, you are safe," Cuomo said, speaking from Radio City Music Hall's grand auditorium, where he said vaccinated audiences would soon be allowed back. He also announced the return of the New York City Marathon.
After a delay of several days, Cuomo said the state is adopting new guidance on masks that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week.
Unvaccinated and immunocompromised people must continue to wear masks and maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing, but people who have waited two weeks after completing their inoculations no longer have to do either, starting Wednesday.
Masks will still be required for everyone in certain settings, such as schools and nursing homes.
Cuomo said it's up to businesses and venues to decide how to check someone's vaccination status. New Yorkers can use the New York State Excelsior Pass smartphone app to prove their vaccination status, and Cuomo said he expects customers will ask business owners whether they've checked if other patrons are vaccinated.
Rhode Island announced Friday that starting today, it would adopt the CDC's new guidelines eliminating most mask requirements for fully vaccinated people. Although McKee expressed concerns that unvaccinated people might stop wearing masks, too, he said he hoped that the CDC's guidance would encourage more people to get vaccinated and that it was "not a pass for people who have not been vaccinated."
CALIFORNIA'S RULES
California won't lift its mask requirement until June 15 to give the public and businesses time to prepare and ensure coronavirus cases stay low, the state health director said Monday, a decision that runs counter to many other states that quickly aligned with last week's federal guidelines.
"This four-week period will give Californians time to prepare for this change while we continue the relentless focus on delivering vaccines particularly to underserved communities and those that were hard hit throughout this pandemic," Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said.
The timing reflects California Gov. Gavin Newsom's earlier announcement that if cases remain low, the state will drop nearly all covid-19 restrictions on June 15.
On May 3, California adopted the CDC's earlier recommendation that people who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks outdoors unless they are at crowded gatherings. But the state says those people must wear masks indoors unless they are meeting with other vaccinated people.
For unvaccinated people, face coverings are required outdoors any time physical distancing can't be maintained, including at parades, fairs, sporting events and concerts.
Businesses are expected to adhere to the state's guidelines, Ghaly said. Both the CDC and state plan to keep the mask requirement in place for students for the rest of the calendar year.
California business leaders including state Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Allan Zaremberg feared that the differing federal and state mask requirements will sow confusion. He urged regulators to follow state health officials' lead, while his counterpart at the California Restaurant Association, Jot Condie, had hoped the state would follow the new CDC guidelines.
Regardless, "Californians need to be aware that restaurants and other businesses must follow state and local guidelines, and we ask for the patience of our guests," Condie said.
Information for this article was contributed by Zeke Miller, Don Thompson, Christopher Weber, Julie Watson, Marina Villeneuve and Jennifer Peltz of The Associated Press; and by Madeleine Ngo of The New York Times.
