The “premier” Boris Johnson has offered to donate surplus Covid vaccines from the United Kingdom to less favored countries and has urged the world community to accelerate the production of new doses. Vaccine “inequality” is the central theme of the first virtual meeting of the G7 in 2021, under the British Presidency and in the midst of a diplomatic battle over the sale of doses to African countries, which was joined by Russia and China.
75% of vaccines against the coronavirus have been administered in just ten countries, while another 130 have not even been able to start their campaigns due to the lack of available doses. The G7 countries (the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States) have acquired a total of 1.5 billion doses, more than their entire population.
The British Government took the lead and has secured more than 400 million vaccines, at more than six doses per head. The vaccine battle has fueled post-Brexit tensions between London and Brussels, and French President Emmanuel Macron has issued the warning these days We are facing an unprecedented acceleration of global inequality and this is creating a politically unsustainable situation. paving the way for a war of influence on behalf of vaccines.
Vaccine distribution is savagely unfair and disproportionate, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned on his own. Countries affected by conflict and insecurity are at risk of being left behind. At this critical moment vaccine, equality is the greatest moral challenge facing the international community.
Boris Johnson has tried to reduce tensions when announcing the sending of his surpluses to the Global Access Fund for Covid-19 Vaccines (COVAX). Johnson urged the rest of the G7 countries to raise the bar for their contribution to COVAX, launched in April 2020 by the World Health Organization and in which 190 countries participate as donors or recipients. The United Kingdom has contributed so far with a contribution of 630 million euros.
The British premier wanted to take advantage of the first meeting of the year of the G7 – as a preamble to the summit scheduled for June in the south of England – to urge laboratories and accelerate the production of new vaccines to 100 days (compared to 300 that the inoculations against Covid-19 have been slow to develop). Johnson has put his scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, at the forefront of an international forum that will work this year with WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI) to achieve that goal.
Perhaps now, more than ever, the hopes of the world rest on the shoulders of scientists”, stressed the premier. As they did last year, as they have done so many times, they have risen to the challenge. The development of viable vaccines against coronavirus offers the guarantee of a return to normalcy. As leaders of the G7, we must say, nevermore”.
After criticism for his erratic and late reaction to the pandemic, Johnson has capitalized in the last two months on the success of the vaccination campaign in his country ( which has already exceeded 17 million punctures. After securing support at home, the “premier” now aspires to lead the global push for the production and distribution of vaccines by taking advantage of the G7 Presidency.
By harnessing collective ingenuity, we can secure the necessary vaccines and treatments, and tests to prepare for future health threats added Johnson. By defeating Covid-19 we will be capable of better recovery and to which we contribute together. Speaking to theFinancial Times Macron announced his plan for 5% of the European Union’s vaccine reserves to be shipped to Africa. We are allowing the idea of hundreds of millions of vaccines distributed among rich countries to take hold, while poor countries have not even been able to get started warned Macron, who said he had the support of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
