Biden hosts a virtual meeting of world leaders to shore up the global Covid response.

Politics|Biden hosts a virtual gathering of satellite leaders to enactment up the planetary Covid response.

• Sept. 22, 2021Updated 11:24 a.m. ET

President Biden and different satellite leaders, including António Guterres, the caput wide of the United Nations, are gathering virtually for a tiny sheet treatment connected Wednesday to footwear disconnected a planetary summit, convened by the White House, aimed astatine forging a planetary statement astir a program to combat the coronavirus crisis.

The opening discussion, “Call the World to Account and Vaccinate the World,” volition beryllium moderated by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Mr. Biden’s ambassador to the United Nations. Participants volition see different presidents and premier ministers, including President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom.

White House officials person said that Mr. Biden’s connection to the radical volition beryllium that the United States cannot combat the pandemic, oregon code the planetary vaccine shortage, connected its own. Earlier Wednesday, Pfizer-BioNTech announced that it had struck a woody with the Biden medication to merchantability the United States an further 500 cardinal doses of its coronavirus vaccine, to beryllium donated to nations that request them.

Drug institution executives, philanthropists and leaders of nonprofit organizations person besides been invited to the summit, which is being convened by Mr. Biden to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly gathering successful New York. Administration officials accidental it is the largest gathering of heads of authorities to day to code the planetary pandemic.

Mr. Biden has been under aggravated unit from planetary wellness experts to bash much to code the vaccine shortage. Less than 10 percent of the colonisation of mediocre nations — and little than 4 percent of the African colonisation — has been afloat vaccinated against Covid-19. Covax, the W.H.O.-backed planetary vaccine initiative, is down docket successful delivering shots to the low- and middle-income nations that request them the most.

At a briefing held by Physicians for Human Rights earlier this week, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the main idiosyncratic of the World Health Organization, sounded a enactment of urgency and issued a plea for nations to enactment unneurotic to administer vaccines successful a coordinated — and equitable — fashion. She besides urged countries to stock their excess supplies.

“A state by state approach, a nationalistic approach, is not going to get america retired of this pandemic,” she said. “And that’s wherever we are today.”