US donates 33,600 doses of Pfizer's pediatric Covid vaccine to Bhutan

The US government on Sunday delivered 33,600 doses of Pfizer's pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to Bhutan.

The US embassy in India said the vaccine doses were supplied as part of President Joe Biden's commitment to helping countries around the world to deal with the pandemic.

It said these "safe and effective" pediatric vaccine doses will protect the lives of children in Bhutan and help stop the spread of COVID-19.

"As part of President Biden's commitment to donate COVID-19 vaccine doses to countries around the world, the US government has delivered 33,600 doses of the Pfizer pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to Bhutan, in partnership with COVAX and the Bhutan Foundation," it said in a statement.

USAID's Mission Director to India and Bhutan Veena Reddy said, "The US is committed to a global COVID-19 response because it makes us all stronger and safer -- Americans and Bhutanese alike."

"The 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," she said.

The US embassy said Sunday's announcement builds on the 5,95,940 doses of COVID-19 vaccines the US has donated to Bhutan last year.

Since the outset of the pandemic, the US government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US 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.

The embassy said the USAID's COVID-19-related "risk communication messaging" has reached approximately 90 per cent 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 USD 4 billion US dollars, the United States is the largest bilateral donor to the global vaccine initiative, COVAX," the embassy said.

The US embassy in India also handles Washington's various initiatives in Bhutan.