We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Transcript/ScriptCOVID-BIDEN
HEADLINE: Biden Urges US to Add Billions in Emergency Funding to Aid Covid Fight
TEASER: ‘We need to secure additional supply now,’ Biden warns, or world risks backsliding on pandemic progress
PUBLISHED AT: 03/30/2022 at 8:02 pm
BYLINE: Anita Powell
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: the White House
VIDEOGRAPHER: AP, WHO
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Bowman, cobus
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP, AFP
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 1:57
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO)) President Joe Biden urged U.S. lawmakers to approve tens of billions of dollars to fight the coronavirus, of which $5 billion is earmarked for America’s global response. Biden, who received his second booster shot Wednesday, warned that failure to get this funding means the U.S. and the world risk backsliding. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.
((NARRATOR))
Americans may think they’re done with the pandemic, President Joe Biden said as he rolled up his sleeve Wednesday for his second booster shot,
((Joe Biden, U.S. President))
“It didn’t hurt a bit.”
((NARRATOR))
but that could not be further than the truth, he warned. Biden has asked Congress for $5 billion in funding for the global pandemic response, and more for COVID-19 testing and vaccines at home.
((Joe Biden, U.S. President))
"Congress, we need to secure additional supply now. Now. We can’t wait until we find ourselves in the midst of another surge to act. It’ll be too late. And we also need this — this funding to continue our efforts to vaccinate the world — commitments we made. It’s critical to our ability to protect against new variants. There’s no wall that you can build high enough to keep out a virus."
((NARRATOR))
As many Americans contemplate their second booster shot, an additional layer of protection now available to Americans over 50,
top global health officials on Wednesday sounded the alarm that the pandemic remains a global threat as many people have yet to receive a first vaccine dose.
[[Radio: Dr Bruce Aylward is senior adviser to the director-general of the World Health Organization]]
((Dr. Bruce Aylward, World Health Organization)) ((WHO))
“We don't subscribe to the view that there should be a different standard for people in rich countries versus others. // If we need it for the high and upper middle income countries, we need it for everyone.”
((NARRATOR)) This inequality has been especially dire in the developing world, where the lack of vaccines and treatments has forced governments to impose other measures to try to stop the spread. The UN children’s agency warns that 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling over the past two years because of pandemic-related disruptions.
And human rights groups say they worry that, amid rising lockdowns in countries like China, some governments have used the viral threat to crack down on freedoms,
((GFX QUOTE over Amnesty Logo))
“2021 should have been a year of healing and recuperation. Instead, it became an incubator for deeper inequality and greater instability, a legacy caustic for years to come.” -Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International
with watchdog Amnesty International warning that the situation has led to “deeper inequality and greater instability.”
The last two years, Biden said, have been a global battle against this mutating virus. And although many Americans see it in the rearview mirror,
for hundreds of millions of people around the world, the fight continues.
((Anita Powell, VOA News, Washington))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)the White House
Embargo DateMarch 30, 2022 22:08 EDT
Byline((Anita Powell, VOA News, Washington))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
