LONDON (UK) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host a virtual meeting of G7 leaders next week to push for action to make sure that there is equal global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and to avert future pandemics, his office said on Saturday.
The meeting of the leaders from the Group of Seven rich nations on Friday is the first such meeting since April last year, and will be Joe Biden’s first major multilateral engagement in his position as US president, Downing Street said.
Johnson said, “The solutions to the challenges we face – from the colossal mission to get vaccines to every single country, to the fight to reverse the damage done to our ecosystems and lead a sustainable recovery from coronavirus – lie in the discussions we have with our friends and partners around the world.”
His office said Johnson will call for the G7 to work on a global approach to pandemics, such as designing an early warning system, which would bring to an end “the nationalist and divisive politics that marred the initial response to coronavirus”.
The World Health Organization has warned that a “me-first” policy towards vaccines by rich nations would have the poorest and most vulnerable at risk, leading to a situation in which the virus could spread and mutate.
Britain itself has been embroiled in a row between the European Union and Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca regarding vaccine supplies.
Johnson said in a statement, ” Quantum leaps in science have given us the vaccines we need to end this pandemic for good. Now world governments have a responsibility to work together to put those vaccines to the best possible use.”