The president of the United States, Joe Biden , and the prime minister, Boris Johnson , announced this Thursday a donation of millions of vaccines against the coronavirus during their meeting prior to the G7 summit in Cornwall. Johnson has stated that his country will start donating at least 100 million doses of the COVID-19 drug to countries that need them within a few weeks.
“As a result of the success of the UK vaccine program, we are now in a position to share some of our excess doses with those who need them,” he said, according to the BBC. He also mentioned that he expects the group of G7 members to agree to collectively donate one billion doses of vaccines until 2022.
For his part, Biden has promised to donate 500 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine to low-income countries around the world through the COVAX mechanism, an announcement that has already been advanced by the media. “The United States knows firsthand the tragedy of this pandemic. We have had more deaths in the United States than in any part of the world, almost 600,000 of our compatriots (…) we know the tragedy and we also know the road to recovery, ”said the US president according to a statement from the White House.
Biden is on his first overseas visit since arriving in the White House . The G7 summit also marks the first time that these world leaders have met in person since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The stimulus of the vaccination program against COVID-19 and climate change are high on the agenda of the summit that runs until Sunday.
