G-7 To Donate 1 Billion COVID Vaccines to the World

CORNWALL, KOMPAS.com - On Thursday, before the opening Friday of the G-7 Summit in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the group is set to donate a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries.

Johnson’s announcement came after U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier in the day that his administration is donating 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, half of the G-7 vaccine trove.

"We're going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners," Biden said.

Britain will donate 100 million shots.

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“As a result of the success of the U.K.’s vaccine program, we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them,” Johnson said. “In doing so, we will take a massive step towards beating this pandemic for good.”

The U.S. shots will begin shipment in August “as quickly as they roll off the manufacturing line,” Biden said in Cornwall on Thursday, adding that 200 million doses will be delivered by the end of this year and 300 million in the first half of 2022.

Biden said the donation will be made with no strings attached.

“Our vaccine donations don't include pressure for favors or potential concessions. We're doing this to save lives, to end this pandemic,” he said.

SHUTTERSTOCK/ lupmotion The Pfizer vaccine

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, joined Biden for the announcement.

“We are testing our vaccines response to newly arising variants,” Bourla said, noting that so far not a single variant has escaped the protection provided by the vaccine.

With the pledge, the U.S. also aims to liberate itself from the uncomfortable reputation of being a vaccine hoarder.

The move is a signal that the U.S. “isn't as intensely parochial and inward focused,” said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House.

That has been a deep concern globally, said Vinjamuri, during former President Donald Trump’s administration as well as in the early months of the Biden administration, when Washington was not sharing doses despite a massive oversupply.

COVAX