While other official estimates put the figure slightly lower than that, Biden noted the moment during the last virtual global summit of the White House on Covid-19, reflecting the devastation of the pandemic on the nation after more than two years.
“This pandemic is not over. Today we mark a tragic milestone here in the United States – 1 million Covid deaths. One million empty chairs around the family dinner table. Every irreplaceable, irreplaceable loss. Each leaves behind a family, a community forever changed by this pandemic. “Our hearts are with all those who are fighting,” Biden said in his opening remarks at the summit, later acknowledging that “many more millions have died worldwide” as a result of the pandemic.
The president told those present that the world community must “start working to prevent the next option and the next pandemic now.”
That is why I continue to call on Congress here at home to take urgent action to secure emergency funding for Covid-19, which is vital for the protection of Americans, to ensure that we maintain our supply of test treatments and vaccines for Covid-19. , including next-generation vaccines that are being developed, “he said, later emphasizing the $ 5 billion proposal to” continue our global partnership in the fight against Covid-19. “
In a proclamation issued Thursday ordering flags to be waved in half to mark the cornerstone, Biden wrote that the nation “should not be numb by such grief.”
Thursday’s summit aims to “redouble” efforts to control Covid-19 and prepare the world for future coronavirus options or the next deadly pandemic, two senior officials said.
The event, also co-hosted by Germany, Indonesia, Senegal and Belize, is urging countries to invest in a new global pandemic preparedness and health security fund at the World Bank, and the United States has announced a promise to increase it to $ 450 million. compared to the originally promised $ 250 million. The summit will also highlight an additional $ 3.1 billion in new funding commitments from around the world to combat Covid-19.
But as Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other cabinet officials attend Thursday’s summit, which will call on other rich countries to step up their efforts to alleviate the coronavirus in support of poorer countries, the Biden administration’s efforts to provide additional funding from Congress to support efforts to alleviate the coronavirus will be front and center.
During the summit on Thursday, administration officials will “strongly urge Congress” to act and take “urgent action, not empty words,” a senior official said.
“If the United States wants to remain a leader – protecting Americans and the world from dangerous disease threats – we need Congress to act now to provide more funding for Covid’s response,” the second official added.
In addition to the two main goals of the summit, there are three key priorities that will guide Thursday’s gathering: preventing Covid-19 complacency, preventing pandemic deaths and preventing future options and pandemics – as one official noted that it’s “not a question of whether, but when.”
This will be the second World Summit for Covid-19 hosted by the White House since September.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Bessera, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Deputy National Security Adviser Dalip Singh and White House Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Ja at Thursday’s summit.
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