The United States is sending nearly half a million doses of Pfizer Inc's Covid-19 vaccine to Rwanda, including the first doses from the Biden administration's 500 million global pledge earlier this summer, the White House has said.

“Today, we are shipping over 488,000 doses of Pfizer to Rwanda, including the first 100,000 doses from @POTUS 500 million shots pledged and purchased this summer. This is just the beginning,” Reuters quoted White House spokesman Kevin Munoz as saying in a post on Twitter.

US President Joe Biden in June said the United States would donate 500m doses of Pfizer's shot, made with partner BioNTech SE, and officials have said they would start shipping out in late August.

In Rwanda, Covid-19 infections are decreasing with 584 average daily reported cases, 42 per cent of its peak caseload reported on July 22.