The Group of Seven (G7) made up of Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom has committed to the delivery of 1 billion vaccines to developing countries over the next 12 months with a view to a total, as anticipated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, of 2.3 billion vaccines by the end of 2022 , as they have made known this Sunday in the final statement of the summit held in Cornwall (United Kingdom).
In the text, the signatories recall their commitment to “provide a total of more than two billion doses of vaccines” and to “create the appropriate frameworks to strengthen collective defense against threats to global health.” Of these, 870,000 will be delivered “directly” by the G7 countries over the next year.
To do this, they defend the UN- dependent COVAX mechanism as “the main route to provide vaccines to the poorest countries”, although they recognize the “urgent need to accelerate the delivery of those doses.”
In addition, they announce a commitment to “collaborate with the private sector, the G20 and other countries to increase this contribution in the coming months”, to “continue exporting in significant proportions” and “promote voluntary licenses and global non-profit production. »Which represents 95 percent of the contributions to COVAX.
The G7 expresses its intention to take steps to develop “manufacturing capacity on all continents, improve early warning systems and support science in a mission to shorten the cycle for the development of safe and effective vaccines, treatments and tests. from 300 to 100 days’.
Likewise, the G7 also supports the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) for new research on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. “We ask for timely, transparent, expert-led advice, as well as Phase 2 of the study on the origins (of the pandemic), including China, as recommended by the experts themselves,” according to the final statement.
After criticism such as that of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the low figure announced, the current British president, Boris Johnson, has highlighted at a press conference after the publication of the statement that it is a “huge amount.”
Subsequently, US President Joe Biden has pointed to the possibility of delivering another 1 billion vaccines soon, although he has acknowledged that he is not yet in a position to make a formal announcement in that regard. Thus, Biden highlighted the “extraordinarily collaborative” tone of the meeting and expressed his satisfaction with the response to China.
