Hindustan Times (Ranchi)

Vaccine sharing tops G7 agenda

- Agence France-Presse letters@hindustant­imes.com

The Group of Seven wealthy democracie­s will discuss coronaviru­s vaccines on Wednesday as they face growing pressure to share stockpiles and know-how with poor nations trailing far behind on fighting the pandemic.

Foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are wrapping up three days of talks in central London that will set the agenda for a G7 leaders’ summit next month in Cornwall, southern England.

After a day focused on showing a common front of democracie­s towards China, the final sessions will also bring in developmen­t chiefs and address global challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.

“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.

Wealthy nations have put an emphasis on Covax, a UN-backed programme meant to share vaccines with the poorest nations.

But rich nations have also effectivel­y elbowed out Covax in the early stages, striking their own deals with drug manufactur­ers and taking the overwhelmi­ng share of the more than 1.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine that have already been injected worldwide.

Raab stressed the importance of Covax but said there was an additional question of “what we do about surplus domestic supply”.

The issues are “a really good opportunit­y for the G7 together with our Indo-Pacific partners to

talk all of that through and come up with positive answers”, Raab said.

Britain invited India to the G7 talks, seeking to include a democratic ally crucial to discussion­s on China - but one which has been devastated in recent weeks by Covid.

IPR on Covid vaccines

The United States has promised more than $4 billion to Covax far more than any other country - and said last week it was urgently shipping more than $100 million in Covid relief supplies to India.

But President Joe Biden’s administra­tion has sidesteppe­d calls to relax intellectu­al property rules to allow cheaper vaccines, voiced by activists as well as India - itself a major vaccine manufactur­er.

US decretary 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 following a successful campaign at home.

In a preview of the discussion­s, Blinken said at the time that his country would insist on “core values” in vaccine distributi­on

- in implicit contrast to China. “We won’t trade shots in arms for political favours. This is about saving lives,” Blinken said.

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who led the wider G20 in 2009 during the global financial crisis, called this week for immediate action from the G7.

“I say to the G7... you have the power and the ability to pay for nearly two-thirds of the costs and secure a historic breakthrou­gh by agreeing an equitable burden-sharing formula,” he said. In addition to immediate shortfalls, the world needs another $35-45 billion next year to ensure that most adults around the world are immunised, according to the World Health Organizati­on.

Britain also hopes that the G7 steps up efforts to fight climate change ahead of a major UN conference in Glasgow in November that is aimed at strengthen­ing promises made in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has sharply raised its ambitions, pledging a 78% cut to carbon emissions compared with 1990 levels by 2035.

 ?? REUTERS ?? Britain’s PM Boris Johnson (right) meets US secretary of state Antony Blinken for a bilateral meeting in London.
REUTERS Britain’s PM Boris Johnson (right) meets US secretary of state Antony Blinken for a bilateral meeting in London.

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