BORIS LEADS £6BN GLOBAL RACE FOR VACCINE
PM launches international mission in battle for ‘humanity’ to beat the virus
BORIS Johnson will today insist the world can defeat coronavirus together as he drives the push for a vaccine.
The Prime Minister is joining
forces with Canada, France, Germany and others to generate £6billion to halt the pandemic.
He will say: “It is humanity against the virus – we are in this together, and together we will prevail.”
Mr Johnson is due to set out the UK’s latest £388million round of aid for research into vaccinations, tests and treatments. Britain is already leading
the global fight to find a vaccine by donating the most cash to date.
The PM, who recently recovered from the deadly disease, will tell other leaders: “To win this battle we must work together to build an impregnable shield around all our people.
“And that can only be achieved by developing and mass producing a vaccine.
“The more we pull together and share our expertise, the faster our scientists will succeed.
“The race to discover the vaccine is not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes.
“It’s humanity against the virus – we are in this together, and together we will prevail.”
Mr Johnson’s charge to find a way to beat Covid-19 comes after he revealed shocking details of his
‘Race for vaccine... is the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes’
fight for life. He said doctors had been preparing a way to announce his death as he spent three days in intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
They gave him “litres and litres of oxygen,” he added, describing it as a “tough old moment”.
He went on: “I was not in particularly brilliant shape and I was aware there were contingency plans in place.
“The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly wrong.”
The Prime Minister, 55, said at first he was “in denial” about how serious his illness was, after being struck down at the end of March.
When his condition worsened he began thinking, “How am I going to get out of this?” but his “terrible buoyancy” meant he believed he would survive.
He returned to Downing Street on Monday after a fortnight convalescing at Chequers.
Two days later his fiancée Carrie Symonds, 32, gave birth to their son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson.
The couple named their baby after their grandfathers and two doctors who helped save Mr Johnson’s life: Dr Nick Price and Prof Nick Hart.
This morning Mr Johnson will lead the daily coronavirus Cabinet meeting before joining the virtual “pledging conference” with Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and senior EU officials.
The international alliance wants to raise billions of pounds to help find a vaccine and treatments for Covid-19.
Britain’s £388million contribution will mean it has so far provided £744million in aid for the global response, both for treatments and to support the international economy.
Money raised at the conference will be make up a funding shortfall estimated by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, which examines how the world deals with health crises.
Coronavirus has claimed more than 247,000 lives, according to analysis by America’s Johns Hopkins University. Experts insist tackling the disease globally is crucial in preventing a second wave of the virus emerging in the UK.
International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “It is only by working together that we will prevent future waves of infection and end this pandemic as quickly as possible.
“By strengthening and developing countries’ health systems and working to find a vaccine, the UK is playing its part in stopping the global spread of coronavirus to
save lives everywhere and protect our NHS.”
World Health Organisation expert MariaVan Kerkhove warned that all countries must remain “on alert” to a second wave of infection as lockdown restrictions are eased internationally.
She said: “What we’re seeing in a number of countries that have been successful in suppressing transmission is that many more people remain susceptible. And what we’re seeing in countries like Singapore, where they’ve seen almost like a second wave...essentially it is actually outbreaks that are happening in expat dormitories, and so the virus has found a place where it can take hold and it can resurge again.
“So all countries must remain on alert for the possibility of additional transmission even if they have been successful suppressing transmission in the first round.” The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Norway and senior EU officials said yesterday that the outbreak had “caused devastation and pain in all corners of the world”.
Writing in the Independent, they added that the response requires “bringing together the world’s best minds to find the vaccines, treatments and therapies we need to make our world healthy again”.