WASHINGTON : President Biden is expected to announce Wednesday that the US will purchase 500 million additional doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to donate to developing countries, according to senior administration officials.

       Mr. Biden is scheduled to make the announcement at a virtual Covid-19 summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, bringing the total U.S. commitment to 1.1 billion doses to be shared overseas. The decision comes as Mr. Biden is seeking to expand America’s role in helping to accelerate global vaccination efforts in low- and lower-middle-income countries that have struggled with access to shots.

       The new batch of Pfizer vaccines will be manufactured in the U.S. and begin shipping out in January, officials said. The donation doubles an earlier U.S. pledge of 500 million Pfizer doses to developing countries by the end of June 2022.

       The donated vaccines are being routed through Covax, an international program backed by the World Health Organization and tasked with supplying vaccines to the world’s poorest nations.

       Pfizer said the doses are scheduled to be delivered to developing nations by the end of September 2022.

       Although the U.S. has so far offered the largest donation total of any country, some international aid groups have called on the Biden administration and other wealthy nations to do more to help inoculate the global population. Only 2% of people in developing countries have received a first dose of the vaccine, according to the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data project, prompting some health experts to warn that more lives could be lost to Covid-19 in 2022 than 2021.

       The U.S. previously sent more than 110 million doses overseas, most of which were manufactured by Moderna Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, with recipient countries ranging from wealthy allies such as Canada to developing nations like Haiti.

       Mr. Biden will also use Wednesday’s summit to call on other world leaders to help expand global access to the vaccine and take steps to make testing, therapeutics and personal protective equipment more available around the world, officials said. He will further urge leaders to help low- and lower-middle-income nations vaccinate at least 70% of their populations by September next year.

       The director-general of the World Health Organization said in June that vaccinating at least 70% of the global population against Covid-19 would require 11 billion doses.

       “These are global targets," a Biden administration official said. “The United States cannot and should not achieve them alone. Everyone has to be accountable."

       The summit will be attended by other heads of state, as well as representatives from the private sector and global health advocates.

       Mr. Biden first promised to share 500 million Pfizer doses overseas at a Group of Seven summit in the U.K. in June. The U.S. began exporting those doses last month, although officials in many poor countries say they have struggled with inadequate infrastructure and governmental resources to support a major vaccine rollout. Rwanda received Pfizer doses on Aug. 18, and since then, more than 30 million doses have been shipped to 22 countries, the company said.

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       The two-shot regimen of Pfizer-BioNTech requires storage at minus 70 degrees Celsius until up to a month before use. It also needs to be diluted with a saline solution before injection, requiring more equipment and training for healthcare workers than other vaccines. Some aid groups have said the U.S. should assume a larger role in providing logistical and planning support, as well as funding to help pay vaccinators and buy necessary equipment.

       The U.S. and a handful of other rich countries have also come under criticism for plans to offer booster shots at home, despite a call by the WHO to halt all boosters until the end of the year and to instead direct excess doses and resources toward poor countries.

       The Biden administration last month signaled it was preparing a booster campaign for most Americans beginning this month. But that timeline has been thrown into doubt after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended last week that a booster developed by Pfizer should be limited to older adults and to people at higher risk.

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