UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a coronavirus (COVID-19) press conference on Downing Street on January 15, 2021 in London, England.
Dominic Lipinski | Getty Images
LONDON – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will appeal to leaders of the world’s largest economies to support efforts to accelerate the development of new vaccines.
Johnson, who will chair a virtual meeting with G-7 leaders on Friday, is expected to outline his ambition to reduce the time to develop new vaccines by two-thirds to 100 days.
A statement from Downing Street said that developing a coronavirus vaccine in about 300 days was an “enormous and unprecedented global achievement”.
“By further reducing the time to develop new vaccines for emerging diseases, we may be able to prevent the catastrophic health, economic and social repercussions seen in this crisis,” said the government.
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations first proposed this 100-day target earlier this year.
“The development of viable coronavirus vaccines offers the tantalizing prospect of a return to normality, but we should not rest on our laurels,” said Johnson before the meeting.
“As leaders of the G7, we must say today: never again,” he added, urging the coalition of leaders to take advantage of “collective ingenuity” to ensure that there are “vaccines, treatments and tests ready for the battle against future health threats. ”
Johnson asked the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, to work with international partners, including the World Health Organization and CEPI, along with industry and scientific experts to advise the G-7 on how to accelerate vaccine development. , treatments and tests.
At Friday’s meeting, Johnson is also expected to confirm that the UK will share most future surplus doses of the coronavirus vaccine with Covax. This is a global initiative co-led by WHO and CEPI, among others, with the aim of providing low-income nations with equitable access to coronavirus vaccines.
Last month, the World Health Organization’s top official warned that the world was on the verge of “catastrophic moral failure” because of Covid’s unequal vaccine policies.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on January 18 condemned what he described as a “self-first approach” for high-income countries, saying it is self-destructive and leaves the world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk.
Almost all high-income countries have prioritized the distribution of vaccines to their own populations. The international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres described what we see today in terms of global access to vaccines as a “far cry from an image of equity”.
Friday’s meeting will be the first in the UK’s 2021 “G-7 Presidency”. It will also be President Joe Biden’s first major multilateral engagement.
Johnson outlined a five-point plan to prevent future pandemics at the United Nations General Assembly last year. This will be the focus of the UK’s G-7 presidency on Friday.