Boris Johnson said there was ‘no point’ in the west vaccinating its citizens if large parts of the rest of the world had not received an adequate supply of vaccines © Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street

Leadership of the G7 group of first world countries have sworn to increase supplies of Covid-19 vaccines to the less developing world, even though divisions stands over the speed at which the west should share its doses.

At a virtual G7 meeting organised on Friday hosted by Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, leaders pledged a support to the WHO-led Covax global vaccine initiative an amount of $7.5bn.

The leadership of the countries agreed during the call, lasting about one hour 45 minutes, to give out surplus vaccines to the third class world, the US president Joe Biden, speaking at his first big international meeting , pledged an extra $4bn for the Covax scheme, with $2bn to be paid immediately.

The newly elected US president also reassured his commitment to fighting climate change, creating what one official called “a warm glow” around the meeting and a renewed sense of optimism about multilateral co-operation.

As the call was nearing to a close, Biden interceptes to underline the shift from the acrimonious Trump era. According to one observer, Biden said to group: “I knew a guy who used to say ‘I don’t just understand you, I overstand you’. I overstand you.”

Justin Trudeau,was being described as “dishonest” and “weak” by Donald Trump at a bitter G7 summit in 2018, concluded the relaxed new mood, with a selfie during the video call.

In the course of the video meeting, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, told the Financial Times that ,the west should urgently allocate up to 5 per cent of its current vaccine supplies to developing countries where Covid-19 inoculation campaigns have hardly started and China and Russia are in to fill the gap. 

But while the US has increased its financial support for Covax, it could not accept Macron’s call to share doses before it had completed its own domestic vaccination campaign.

“Our current focus is on vaccinating Americans, getting shots in arms here,” said one US official, speaking before the meeting. Another official said Biden had asked staff to explore options for donating “surplus” vaccines “once there is a sufficient supply” to meet domestic demand.

Content created and supplied by: Kemicalz (via Opera News )