Leaders of the rich G7 countries will donate one billion doses of covid-19 vaccines to poor countries to “end the pandemic” by 2022, the UK presidency of that group announced yesterday.
In a statement, released on Thursday by the French news agency AFP, the British government said that during the G7 meeting, which will take place between Friday and Sunday in southwest England, “the leaders of the major powers will announce the availability of at least one billion doses of the vaccine against the coronavirus, sharing doses and financing them.
According to the British government, which holds the G7 presidency this year, the leaders of the rich countries should also “present a plan to expand vaccine production to achieve that goal.”
“By vaccinating more people around the world, we will not only help end the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus but also reduce the risk to the UK population by reducing the threat posed by emerging vaccine-resistant variants in areas with large epidemic outbreaks,” the note adds.
London specified that it will donate “100 million excess doses from various laboratories thanks to the progress of its vaccination programme, which has already made it possible to administer around 70 million vaccines in the UK”.
“Five million doses will be provided by September and the rest by 2022, mainly through the Covax device,” the British government specified.
Already “the United States of America committed today to supply 500 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, including 200 million this year”.
The British Presidency also wants to ask pharmaceutical companies to provide vaccines at cost price during the pandemic.
In May, producers Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson pledged to deliver, at cost or reduced prices, 3.5 billion doses to the poorest countries in 2021 and 2022, including 1.3 billion this year.
Also, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday asked pharmaceutical companies to donate 10% of doses sold to disadvantaged countries.
At the meeting, which begins Friday and ends Sunday, the G7 heads of state and government will also discuss “mechanisms to prevent future pandemics”.
