Prime Minister Boris Johnson marked the conclusion of the UK-hosted G7 Summit in Cornwall with the announcement that world leaders have pledged over 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the world’s poorest countries by the end of next year.
Johnson declared the summit a success with pledges for building back better and greener from the pandemic and achieving the greatest feat in medical history of vaccinating the world at a press conference to mark the end of the three-day summit, attended by the leaders of US, Canada, France, Germany Italy, Japan, alongside Australia, South Africa and South Korea as guest nations, with India joining virtually.
Leaders have pledged over 1 billion doses either directly or through funding to COVAX that includes 100 million from the UK, to the world’s poorest countries which is another big step towards vaccinating the world, said Johnson.
He highlighted the special role of the UK-developed Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also being produced by the Serum Institute of India as Covishield.
Today over half a billion people are safe because of the development and production of that vaccine (Oxford/AstraZeneca), funded by the UK government. And that number is rising every day. It is popular, of course, because it is being sold at cost to the world and it was designed for ease of use in mind,” he said.
“And because of that act of generosity by AstraZeneca who, just to reiterate, are making zero profit on the production of that vaccine, millions more vaccines have been rolled out to the poorest countries in the world. In fact 96 per cent of the vaccines delivered by the COVAX distribution scheme have been Oxford/AZ, he added.
The UK Prime Minister, the host of the first major in-person summit since the pandemic hit last year, said the discussions which opened on Friday went far beyond defeating the pandemic as the world leaders looked towards a great global recovery. Some of the highlights he focussed on included preventing a pandemic like COVID-19 from happening again by establishing a Global Pandemic Radar, designed to spot new diseases before they get the chance to spread.
Boris Johnson also hailed a new Global Partnership for Education, an organisation working to make sure that every child in the world is given the chance of proper education, reach half of its five-year fundraising goal, including a 430 million pound donation from the UK.
I’m proud that G7 countries have agreed to get 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more reading by the end of primary school in the next five years, and the money we have raised this week is a fantastic start, said Johnson.
Finally, the UK PM focussed on the summit’s climate agenda, which dominated the final day of discussions on Sunday.
Later this year, the UK will host the COP26 Summit, which will galvanise global action on fighting climate change and create a healthy planet for our children and grandchildren. G7 countries account for 20 per cent of global carbon emissions, and we were clear this weekend that action has to start with us, he said.
And while it’s fantastic that every one of the G7 countries has pledged to wipe out our contributions to climate change, we need to make sure we’re achieving that as fast as we can and helping developing countries at the same time, he added.
The final communique issued at the end of the summit covers six broad areas of agreement between the G7 leaders end the pandemic and prepare for the future; reinvigorate economies by advancing recovery plans; secure future prosperity by championing freer, fairer trade within a reformed trading system; protect the planet by supporting a green revolution; strengthen partnerships with others around the world; and embrace values by harnessing the power of democracy, freedom and equality.
