Coronavirus: G20 health ministers agree vaccine distribution needs to be fairer

The conditions are in place to agree to what G20 ministers have dubbed the Rome Pact, Italy’s health minister Roberto Speranza said

At the two-day meeting in Rome, participants are also discussing how future pandemics can be prevented or how countries can be better prepared

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Roberto Speranza, Italy’s health minister, during the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Rome, Italy on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 3:24am, 6 Sep 2021Updated: 3:23am, 6 Sep 2021

The health ministers of the world's 20 leading economies have agreed to work towards more equity in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines at a Sunday meeting in Rome on the next steps in the effort to contain the coronavirus.

The conditions are in place to agree to what G20 ministers have dubbed the Rome Pact, Italy's health minister, Roberto Speranza, said.

One important commitment of the pact is a fairer distribution of vaccines beyond wealthy nations based on the shared understanding that vaccination is a right of all and not the privilege of a few, Speranza said.

Italy’s health minister Roberto Speranza, centre, with some of the other ministers who took part in the G20 Health Ministers' Meeting in Rome, Italy on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Germany is planning to make 100 million vaccine doses against the coronavirus available for the international inoculation campaign before the end of the year, Health Minister Jens Spahn announced on the sidelines of the meeting.

“That is the same amount as we have vaccinated in our own country so far,” Spahn said, adding that the contribution will help towards the goal of having at least 40 per cent of the world population vaccinated before 2022.