Group of 7 plans to set up vaccine agenda ahead of summit in June
LONDON : The Group of Seven wealthy democracies on Wednesday worked on plans to scale up global Covid-19 vaccinations, as calls mounted for a drastic increase in funding to help developing nations virtually shut out of early efforts. Foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US are setting the agenda for the summit next month in UK’s Cornwall. The G7 opened its final day with a session focused on open societies before taking up Covid-19 and the climate crisis.
The Group of Seven wealthy democracies on Wednesday worked on plans to scale up global Covid-19 vaccinations, as calls mounted for a drastic increase in funding to help developing nations virtually shut out of early efforts.
Foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are setting the agenda for a G7 leaders’ summit next month in Cornwall, southern England, which will mark Joe Biden’s international debut as US president.
The G7 opened its final day with a session focused on open societies before taking up Covid-19 as well as the fight against the climate crisis. “A really valuable part of the G7 format is to think in the round - what do we need to do to help the most vulnerable countries around the world?” British foreign secretary Dominic Raab told reporters.
More than 1.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally, but fewer than 1% have been given in the least developed countries.
With support from most wealthy nations, the Covax programme, backed by WHO, is meant to share vaccines with the poorest nations. But rich countries have effectively elbowed out Covax in the early stages, striking their own deals with drug manufacturers.
The US could soon be sitting on as many as 300 million extra doses - nearly equivalent to its entire population - due to ongoing contracts with manufacturers and success at home in inoculation campaigns, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated.
Biden quickly joined Covax after taking office in January, a reversal from the nationalism of his predecessor Donald Trump, and has promised $4 billion for the programme - far more than any other country. The Biden administration last week also said it would divert 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab and provide $100 million in immediate supplies to India. But Britain’s former PM Gordon Brown said far more is necessary and urged the G7 to provide the bulk of $60bn that is needed over the next two years to vaccinate the whole world. US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who is taking part in the talks in London, last month promised that the US would soon be in a position to supply vaccines overseas. In an implicit criticism of Chinese and Russian efforts, Blinken said, “We won’t trade shots in arms for political favours. This is about saving lives.”