11 June 2021 - G-7 nations expected to pledge 1B vaccine doses for world
UK to give 100m Covid vaccine doses to poorer countries within a year
Patrick Wintour and Sarah Boseley (The Guardian, 10/06/2021)
The UK will donate 100m surplus coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year to low-income countries as part of at least 1bn doses due from the G7.
The US has promised to buy 500m Pfizer vaccines at a cost of $3bn for distribution to 100 poorer countries, with 200m to be distributed this year, in addition to releasing 80m of its surplus by the end of June.
But a group of campaigners including the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown said the G7 package did not address the structural problems facing low-income countries in securing a regular supply of vaccines, adding that these countries needed 12bn vaccines, at a cost of $50bn.
Biden says US to buy and donate half-billion doses of Pfizer's Covid vaccine: 'We know the tragedy. We also know the path to recovery'
Betsy Klein, Kate Sullivan and Maegan Vazquez (CNN, 10/06/2021)
President Joe Biden announced Thursday evening that the United States plans to donate 500 million Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses globally as part of his efforts to reassert US leadership on the world stage.
"America knows first-hand the tragedy of this pandemic. We've had more people die in the United States than anywhere in the world, nearly 600,000 of our fellow Americans," Biden said in remarks after meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He added, "We know the tragedy. We also know the path to recovery."
COVID vaccine weekly: sharing doses tops the G7 agenda
Rob Reddick (The Conversation, 10/06/2021)
Forging an agreement to get vaccines fully distributed across the world by the end of 2022 will be a top priority at the forthcoming G7 summit, with the UK prime minister Boris Johnson due to formally set out this target when the heads of state meet in Cornwall.
To meet this target, the G7 countries need to begin distributing surplus vaccines immediately, says Steve Schifferes, honorary research fellow at City, University of London. But with new variants emerging, and with the G7 countries not having reached herd immunity through vaccination at home, such an approach looks politically difficult.
G-7 Nations Plan To Share At Least 1 Billion Vaccine Doses With The World
Sanjana Karanth (The Huffington Post, 10/06/2021)
The Group of Seven nations are set to commit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with the world, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday, with half coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K. as President Joe Biden urged allies to join in speeding the pandemic’s end and bolstering the strategic position of the world’s wealthiest democracies.
Johnson’s announcement on the eve of the G-7 leaders’ summit in England came hours after Biden committed to donating 500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and previewed a coordinated effort by the advanced economies to make vaccination widely and speedily available everywhere.