G-20 ministers want to vaccinate 70% of world by mid-2022
ROME — The health and finance ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) summit of large industrialized nations have agreed that 70% of the world’s population should be inoculated against COVID-19 by mid-2022.
“We will take steps to boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products,” they said in a statement on Friday ahead of their meeting in Rome over the weekend.
By the end of this year, 40% of the world’s population should be vaccinated, they said.
The ministers agreed to address supply and financing problems that have hampered the distribution of vaccines. They vowed to expand the distribution of vaccines and increase local and regional vaccine manufacturing capacity through joint production and processing deals.
The 2022 goal is in line with a goal set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, activists criticized the statement, with anti-poverty campaign group One expressing disappointment and concern that the ministers had failed to provide any concrete details.
However, leaders can still “turn promises into action” at their weekend consultations, said Emily Wigens of One. “Without new commitments, this summit risks becoming nothing but hot air.”
Other groups had said ahead of the summit that a 40% target would be hard to meet by the end of the year.
While in wealthier countries about 70% of the population is already jabbed, the IMF recently reported that 96% of people in low-income countries are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
“After 18 months of pandemic, the record is appalling,” said Friedrike Roeder from aid group Global Citizen.
Activists and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also want the G-20 to agree a joint stance to tackle climate change ahead of the COP26 U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, which immediately follows the weekend meeting in Rome.
There are “dangerous levels of mistrust” between nations, Guterres told a news conference on Friday. “There is a serious risk that Glasgow will not deliver.”
However, he feel progress is still possible in Scotland if the G-20 take the initiative in Italy. The U.N. wants to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as countries come forward with ambitious 2030 emissions reduction targets.
“I think we are still on time to put things on track. And I think this coming meeting is the opportunity to do that,” he added.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also called on the G-20 to live up to their global leadership role.
“We must be a role model in the very important issues of this time,” von der Leyen told German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
The main issues now, she said, is to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population against COVID-19 and to start combating climate change by the middle of next year.
Von der Leyen is not the only German in Rome for the G-20.
Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat politician bidding to take over as chancellor from the retiring Angela Merkel, described their joint appearance at the G-20 as a signal of continuity to Germany’s international partners.
Many countries were watching developments in Germany, where coalition talks are under way, and wanted to be sure that they could rely on the next government under a probable chancellor Scholz, he said.
“And for that reason, the fact that the chancellor and I are able to speak jointly with other countries and assure them that they can all continue to rely on Germany and its role as a country that contributes to the world cooperating, is a good signal of continuity,” Scholz said.