WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US is planning to take a position billions of {dollars} in increasing COVID-19 manufacturing capability to have at the least a billion doses by the second half of subsequent yr, the New York Instances reported on Wednesday, citing high White Home advisers.

The announcement to be made Wednesday comes because the administration of President Joe Biden faces strain from activists to extend the vaccine provide to poorer international locations.

The funding in vaccine manufacturing is a part of a private-public partnership to handle vaccine wants at residence and around the globe and likewise to arrange for future pandemics, Dr. David Kessler, who oversees vaccine distribution, and Jeff Zients, the White Home coronavirus response coordinator, informed the Instances.

The plan is estimated to value a number of billion {dollars} and might be paid for with funds from the American Rescue Plan Biden signed into legislation in March, Kessler informed the Instances.

“That is about assuring expanded capability towards COVID variants and likewise getting ready for the following pandemic,” Kessler informed the newspaper.

“The objective, within the case of a future pandemic, a future virus, is to have vaccine functionality inside six to 9 months of identification of that pandemic pathogen, and to have sufficient vaccines for all Individuals,” he mentioned.