PM warns G7 poor nations must not be left behind in vaccinations Infections drop amid jags gap protection find
Boris Johnson has told world leaders there is "no point" in vaccinating national populations if efforts are not made to ensure the "whole word" receives jabs.
In the lead-up to yesterday's virtual G7 meeting, Boris Johnson pledged to donate the majority of the UK'S surplus vaccines to poorer nations.
Addressing the leaders from Downing Street, including US president Joe Biden in his first major multilateral meeting, Mr Johnson encouraged other developed nations to join the efforttoincreasetheglobalvaccine supply.
He said: "Science is finally getting the upper hand on Covid whichisagreat,greatthingand long overdue.
"Butthereisnopointinusvaccinating our individual populations - we've got to make sure the whole world is vaccinated because this is a global pandemic and it's no use one country being far ahead of another, we've got to move together.
"So one of the things that I know that colleagues will be wanting to do is to ensure that we distribute vaccines at cost around the world - make sure everybody gets the vaccines that they need so that the whole world can come through this pandemic together."
Andleadersoftheg7nations,
whichincludestheuk,canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States,along with the president of the European Council and president of the European Commission, agreed to "intensify co-operation" on responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement following a virtual meeting, they said: "Working with, and together to strengthen, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and supporting its leading and co-ordinating role, we will: accelerate global vaccine development and deployment; work with industry to increase manufacturing capacity, including through voluntary licensing; improve information sharing, suchasonsequencingnewvariants; and promote transparent and responsible practices, and vaccine confidence.
"We reaffirm our support for all pillars of the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), its Covax facility, and
affordableandequitableaccess to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, reflecting the role of extensive immunisation as a global public good.
"Today, with increased financial commitments of over four billion US dollars to ACT-A and Covax, collective G7 support totals 7.5 billion dollars.
"Weinviteallpartners,including the G20 and international financial institutions, to join us inincreasingsupporttoact-a, including to increase developing countries' access to Whoapproved vaccines through the Covax facility.
"Covid-19showsthattheworld needsstrongerdefencesagainst future risks to global health security."
Covaxisthemultilateralglobalvaccinesupplyschemebeing led by the World Health Organisation and other international bodies.
In total, the UK has more than 400 million doses of vaccines on order, enough to vaccinate its population three times over. Butwithsomevaccinesordered that have yet to be approved by theukmedicinesregulatorand the domestic inoculation programme still in full flow, the Government has not yet put a date on when the first Covax donations will be made.
When pressed on when the UK would be in a position to share extra vaccines with poorer countries, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly said: "There are a number of variables, some of which are in our control.
"We're not really able to give withcertaintyeitheratimescale or the numbers involved."
And Oxfam said the pledges made by the G7 were "insufficient"todealwiththesizeofthe vaccine supply issue facing the globe.
Maxlawson,headofinequality policy at the charity, said: "While some of those attending the G7 have made welcome steps to increase the supply of vaccines to poor countries, these remain insufficient when compared to the scale of the Covid-19 threat.
"Making huge parts of Africa andasiawaitforunwanted,leftover vaccines from rich countries' stocks is not just immoral, it is irresponsible.
"The lack of co-ordinated action from the G7 is inexcusable. The longer huge swathes of the world's population are denied protection, the greater the threat that virus mutations will threaten us all.
"Poor countries should not be forced to wait for vaccines to trickle down to them.
"Between them, G7 nations have secured enough vaccines for every one of their citizens to be vaccinated three times over, while many poor countries are yet to receive a single dose."
During the opening exchanges of the G7 meeting, Mr Biden could be seen laughing on the video call on the screen inside the Cabinet Room after the Primeministerjoviallyaccused the president's campaign team of stealing the UK Government's "build back better" slogan.
"I think he may have nicked it from us but I certainly nicked it from somewhere else - probably some UN disaster relief programme," Mr Johnson said.
Mr Johnson also turned his attention to another of his priorities over the next year - climate change.
"I think that this is the right moment for us all to focus on the other great natural challenge about which we've been warned time and time and time again. We can't ignore it, the warnings have been even clearer than they were for Covid. It's great, by the way, that Joe (Biden) has brought the United States back into the Paris Climate Change Accords, a great step forward."
Coronavirus infections are dropping across the UK, new data suggests, as a study found that giving doses of the Oxford/astrazeneca vaccine 12 weeks apart improves protection.
Around one in 115 people in private households in England had Covid-19 between February 6 and 12, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, down from around one in 80 people from January 31 to February 6.
Meanwhile, in Wales, around one in 125 people are estimated to have had Covid-19 between February 6 and 12, down from one in 85 previously.
In Northern Ireland, the figure is around one in 105 people, down from one in 75, while in Scotland it is around one in 180 people, down from one in 150.
It comes as new analysis from Oxford University published in The Lancet confirmed that a single dose of the Astrazeneca vaccine offers 76% protection against Covid-19 from 22 days after vaccination.