G7: PM to promise to donate surplus coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations

The Prime Minister will pledge to donate the majority of our surplus Covid vaccines to poorer nations at a G7 meeting.

The UK will be hosting a virtual meeting with world leaders on Friday 19th February, ahead of the summit in Cornwall.

Boris Johnson will call for a new global approach to pandemics and to build back better from coronavirus.

Friday's meeting will be the first hosted by the PM as part of the UK's G7 Presidency this year and the first gathering of G7 leaders since April 2020.

He will also argue that putting our citizens first should not come at the expense of working on a unified response, and that the last twelve months of the pandemic have showed that no country can be safe until every country is safe from the pandemic.

Mr Johnson is also expected to call on world leaders to set a 100-day target for developing new vaccines.

Mr Johnson will work with fellow G7 leaders to implement his five-point plan to prevent future pandemics, announced at the UN General Assembly last year.

The five point plan includes a worldwide network of zoonotic research hubs, developing global manufacturing capacity for treatments and vaccines, the design of a global pandemic early warning system, the agreement of global protocols for a future health emergency and the reduction of trade barriers.

There have already been positive steps to ensure equitable access to a coronavirus vaccine. Last month the US announced it would join the COVAX initiative, becoming the final G7 country to do so. COVAX will provide developing countries with 1.3 billion doses of the vaccine this year and the UK is providing £548m to the scheme.

"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.

"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. I hope 2021 will be remembered as the year humanity worked together like never before to defeat a common foe".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

During February the UK also holds the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, which rotates between members every month. The UK is using this Presidency to galvanise international action on coronavirus, climate change and conflict.