Coronavirus: G7 plans 1 billion extra vaccine shots to end pandemic in 2022
- G7 draft communique says leaders will make vaccine pledge at UK summit
- US plans to buy 500 million doses of Pfizer shots to share internationally
As Biden and other G7 leaders gathered for the start of their summit in the UK, their staff were putting together a document that outlines a plan to end the Covid-19 pandemic by December 2022. At the summit in Cornwall, the presidents and prime ministers will pledge to deliver at least 1 billion extra doses of vaccines over the next year to help cover 80 per cent of the world’s adult population, according to a draft communique seen by Bloomberg News.
The US government will buy about 200 million doses this year to distribute through Covax, the World Health Organization-backed initiative aimed at securing an equitable global distribution of the vaccine, and about 300 million doses in the first half of next year, said a person familiar with the matter.
The vaccines will go to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union, the person said. Biden was expected to announce that plan on Thursday in remarks before the summit gets under way.
The move comes as the United States faces pressure to do more about the global vaccine shortage, with rich countries having bought up the lion’s share of early supplies and the pandemic still raging across much of the world.
The United States itself has fully vaccinated more than half its entire population, and the infection rate has plummeted. Some states have even resorted to perks like million-dollar lotteries or free beers to encourage uptake of the country’s ample vaccine supply.