AMN/ WEB DESK
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called upon G7 leaders to make a commitment to vaccinate the entire world against COVID-19 by the end of 2022 when they meet in Britain next week. Johnson will host the first in-person summit in almost two years of G7 leaders.
British PM said that vaccinating the world by the end of next year will be the single greatest feat in medical history. He called on his fellow G7 leaders to join UK to end the terrible pandemic. The leaders of US, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, European Union and Canada will join Johnson for the three-day summit in Cornwall, southwest England, which begins on Friday next week. It will be the first overseas trip for US President Joe Biden since he took office in January.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in London for the finance ministers meeting, said it was urgent for the richest nations to promote vaccinations in poorer countries that could not afford to buy them. She also repeated the US position that patent rights should be removed for the vaccines, and said they were doing everything they could to address supply chain problems that were preventing a build-up of shots in other parts of the world.
While the richest nations have been vaccinating large numbers of their populations, many poorer countries have not had the same access to vaccines. And health experts have warned that unless more COVID shots were donated, the virus will continue to spread and mutate.