The UK Prime Minister told a news conference at the end of the G7 summit in England that a billion doses will be donated to poorer countries by the end of next year.
ADVERTISEMENTThe G7 nations have agreed to distribute globally more than a billion vaccines against the coronavirus between now and the end of 2022 in the hope of eradicating the pandemic, Boris Johnson announced on Sunday.
Speaking at a news conference towards the end of the summit in Cornwall in southwest England, the British Prime Minister added that leaders of the world's leading economies who form the Group of Seven had committed themselves to make the move either by financing them or via the COVAX scheme for sharing vaccines.
Earlier, both the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organisation warned the leaders of the G7 nations that their strategy to help beat the coronavirus pandemic does not go far enough.
Speaking on Saturday, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that 11 billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine were needed to vaccinate the world against the deadly virus, far short of the one billion pledged by the G7 leadership.
Then on Sunday Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, said that while donations of excess vaccines to the developing world was a good first step, more work would be needed to help countries actually vaccinate their populations.
Addressing climate change, Johnson said the G7 had agreed to end direct government support for unabated coal power generation, or the use of coal without technology to reduce its carbon emissions.
Their move followed an appeal by Sir David Attenborough to demonstrate ”global will” to tackle climate change.
The nature historian and broadcaster, who addressed the leaders on Sunday by video, said global warming and loss of biodiversity are “beyond doubt,” as is the fact that “our societies and nations are unequal.”
He said “the question science forces us to address specifically in 2021 is whether as a result of these intertwined facts we are on the verge of destabilising the entire planet?”