Skip to main content

G7 to Provide 1 bn Covid Vaccine Doses 'to World’

A meeting of finance ministers from across the G7 nations ahead of the G7 leaders' summit, at Lancaster House in London, Britain June 4, 2021. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/Pool via REUTERS


G7 leaders will agree to expand global Covid vaccine manufacturing to provide at least one billion doses to the world through sharing and financing schemes, Britain said Thursday.


The announcement came after the United States said it would donate 500 million jabs to 92 poor and lower-middle-income nations.

The UK, which is hosting the big powers' gathering in southwest England, added it would donate at least 100 million surplus doses within the next year, including five million beginning in the coming weeks.

The commitments follow growing calls for richer countries to step up their efforts to share Covid-19 shots with less developed nations, with charities warning the current situation is leading to "vaccine apartheid".

Britain, which has orders for more than 400 million doses, has faced criticism for failing to begin making donations to poorer countries.

But on the eve of welcoming world leaders from the group of seven wealthy nations to their first summit in almost two years, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed that would soon change.

"As a result of the success of the UK's vaccine program we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them," he said.

"At the G7 Summit I hope my fellow leaders will make similar pledges".

A Downing Street statement said: "At the Summit world leaders are expected to announce they will provide at least one billion coronavirus vaccine doses to the world.. and set out a plan to expand vaccine manufacturing in order to achieve that goal."

Meanwhile EU members have agreed to donate at least 100 million doses by the end of 2021 -- with France and Germany each committing to providing 30 million.

French President Emmanuel Macron issued his own call for pharma groups producing vaccines to donate 10 percent of their production to poor nations.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday saluted a "historic" moment in the fight against the pandemic after Washington announced its donation.

"This is about our responsibility, our humanitarian obligation to save as many lives as we can," Biden told reporters at the start of his first overseas trip as president.

AFP quoted Biden as saying that the move was also in the US interest because of the risk of variants while the White House said the decision would "supercharge the global fight against the pandemic".


Labels:
Location: Avrupa

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ANOM: Hundreds arrested in massive global crime sting using messaging app

  More than 800 suspected criminals have been arrested worldwide after being tricked into using an FBI-run encrypted messaging app, officials say. The operation, jointly conceived by Australia and the FBI, saw devices with the ANOM app secretly distributed among criminals, allowing police to monitor their chats about drug smuggling, money laundering and even murder plots. Officials called it a watershed moment. Targets included drug gangs and people with links to the mafia. Drugs, weapons, luxury vehicles and cash were also seized in the operation. This included eight tons of cocaine, 250 guns and more than $48m (£34m) in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation had "struck a heavy blow against organised crime" around the world. Europol described Operation Trojan Shield/Greenlight as the "biggest ever law enforcement operation against encrypted communication". How did the ANOM sting work? The FBI ...
Post a Comment
Read more

France to replace Barkhane operation in Sahel

French President Emmanuel Macron said the country's counter-terrorism operation in West Africa would come to an end and be incorporated into a broader international mission. French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks during a press conference ahead of the G7 Summit, at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, on June 10, 2021. (AFP) French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a major drawdown of France's military presence in the Sahel, where forces have been battling militant insurgents for nearly a decade. At a news conference on Thursday, Macron said the existing Barkhane operation would end, with France's presence becoming part of the so-called Takuba international task force in which "hundreds" of French soldiers would form the "backbone". France currently has 5,100 troops in the arid and volatile Sahel region, which stretches across Africa under the Sahara desert and spans half a dozen countries. "The time has come: Our commitme...
Post a Comment
Read more

Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul: For the Money and the Clicks

  PHOTO:  CHANDAN KHANNA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES A boxing retiree takes on a social media phenom in a fight for attention and cash The 44-year-old boxer Floyd Mayweather fought the YouTube star Logan Paul Sunday night, not for posterity, or any compelling athletic reason, but for the algorithm.  The algorithm—the search engine optimization; the influencer data; the sheer volume of social media clicking, most of it associated with Paul, who has 23 million YouTube subscribers—said enough people would be mildly to genuinely curious about such a fight that they might pay $49.99 to see it. If you know anything about the sport of boxing, you know this was more than enough motivation to make it happen.  I’m not being holy about this. It’s 2021. I’m also here for the clicks. In boxing, there is some worry that this is bad for the sport, that exhibition goofs like Mayweather vs. Paul cannibalize the legitimate stuff and undermine efforts to lift the product. To whic...
Post a Comment
Read more