The Group of Seven (G7) leaders are expected to announce that they will provide at least 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to the world through dose sharing and financing, the United Kingdom announced.
The UK, which is hosting the G7 summit in southwest England, added it would donate at least 100 million surplus doses within the next year, including five million beginning in the coming weeks. This comes amid growing calls for richer countries to step up their efforts to share Covid-19 shots with less developed nations.
The Group of Seven is an organisation of wealthy democracies consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The UK will donate 5 million doses by the end of September, beginning in the coming weeks, primarily for use in the world’s poorest countries.
The Prime Minister has also committed to donating a further 95 million doses within the next year, including 25 million more by the end of 2021. 80 percent of the 100m doses will go to COVAX and the remainder will be shared bilaterally with countries in need.
By sharing 5 million doses in the coming weeks the UK will meet immediate demand for vaccines for the countries worst affected by coronavirus without delaying completion of our initial domestic vaccination programme.
The doses the UK has announced it will donate today will be drawn from the UK’s expected excess supply.
The 100 million figure has been calculated based on the total needed to vaccinate the UK population, factoring in the possibility of future vaccine-resistant strains being detected and potential disruptions to our supply.
“At the Summit world leaders are expected to announce they will provide at least 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to the world through dose sharing and financing and set out a plan to expand vaccine manufacturing in order to achieve that goal,” read the statement released by UK Prime Minister’s Office.
At the summit, leaders will also discuss how to expand the supply of vaccines internationally, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson asking the group to encourage pharmaceutical companies to adopt the Oxford-AstraZeneca model of providing vaccines of cost for the duration of the pandemic.
Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have already pledged to share 1.3 billion doses on a non-profit basis with developing countries.
Leaders are expected to discuss additional ways to support countries experiencing acute coronavirus emergencies and put in place mechanisms to prevent future pandemics. This follows on from commitments made at the virtual meeting of G7 leaders earlier this year.