Future Foreign Policy: How can the United States lead on global health?

Please join the Atlantic Council’s New American Engagement Initiative on Wednesday, April 20, at 2:00 EST for an online event on the fight against COVID-19 and how the United States can lead on global health, featuring Rep. Jake Auchincloss (MA-4) and Elizabeth M. Allen, Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, in conversation with The Washington Post’s Dan Diamond.

The United States has produced the most effective vaccines for fighting COVID-19 and has distributed hundreds of millions of doses around the world. This has demonstrated the ability of the private sector to work alongside the government to rapidly achieve tremendous goals. But there remains a significant gap in vaccination rates between wealthy and poor countries, which is a continuation of divergent global public health outcomes. Rep. Auchincloss has called for a “Marshall Plan” for US-made vaccines and the Biden administration has pledged to make the United States an “Arsenal of Vaccines.” How can the United States more effectively lead the global effort to defeat COVID-19? And how might it create a more equitable global health system that makes the United States more secure and prosperous?

The Future Foreign Policy series features new perspectives to expand the US toolkit to address traditional threats, confront emerging challenges, and enable greater and more robust global engagement with allies and partners. To this end, our invitees bring much-needed diversity into the national security dialogue. The speakers include not only those from traditionally underrepresented groups in Washington foreign policy circles, but also those who represent a range of viewpoints.