July 10, 2022
Press Release from the U.S Embassy, New Delhi, July 10, 2022:
Thimphu, Bhutan: As part of President Biden’s commitment to donate COVID-19 vaccine doses to countries around the world, the U.S. government has delivered 33,600 doses of the Pfizer pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to Bhutan, in partnership with COVAX and the Bhutan Foundation. These safe and effective pediatric vaccine doses delivered today will protect the lives of children in Bhutan and help stop the spread of COVID-19.
USAID’s Mission Director to India and Bhutan, Veena Reddy said, “The United States is committed to a global COVID-19 response because it makes us all stronger and safer—Americans and Bhutanese alike. USAID is proud to work with the Royal Government of Bhutan and our partner, the Bhutan Foundation, to deliver the pediatric vaccine doses today and values our ongoing partnership to defeat and recover from COVID-19.”
Today’s announcement builds on the 595,940 doses of COVID-19 vaccines the United States has donated to Bhutan in the last year. Since the outset of the pandemic, the U.S. government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has partnered with Bhutan to build the nation’s resilience, strengthen its healthcare capacity, train healthcare workers, and promote pandemic prevention, readiness, and response, while also supporting microenterprises and entrepreneurs to overcome the economic impacts of the pandemic. USAID’s COVID-19-related risk communication messaging has reached approximately 90 percent of Bhutan’s population, contributing to Bhutan maintaining one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world.
Worldwide, the United States has pledged to donate more than 1.1 billion vaccine doses to 115 countries and has already delivered over half a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines. With its contribution of $4 billion U.S. dollars, the United States is the largest bilateral donor to the global vaccine initiative, COVAX.