BIDEN PLEDGES $4BN FOR GLOBAL COVID-19 VACCINE PROGRAMME
Joe Biden attended his first meeting as US president with Group of Seven leaders on Friday to discuss plans to defeat Covid-19, reopen the battered world economy and underlined his foreign policy plans. The call was expected to begin at 7:30pm India time.
Biden is focusing “on the global response to the pandemic, including vaccine production, distribution of supplies” and efforts to fight emerging infections, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday. He was also expected to pledge $4 billion in US aid to the Covax global Covid-19 vaccination programme, said a senior White House official, who asked not to be identified.
Covax is a global project to procure and distribute vaccines for at least the most vulnerable 20% in every country, allowing poorer nations to catch up with the rush by dozens of wealthy countries to vaccinate.
Britain, which holds the rotating chair of the G7, asked members to help speed up the development of future vaccines to 100 days at the meeting.
Biden also promoted “a robust agenda of measures to address the global climate crisis”, as Britain prepares to host the UN’s next climate summit, COP26, in the Scottish city of Glasgow in November.
Beijing is not part of the G7 which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US - and Washington is repositioning rich democracies as a counterweight to China amid mistrust of its initial handling of Covid-19.