Wealthy G7 powers ramp up health funding for poorer nations

London, Feb 19 (AFP/APP): Wealthy G7 powers on Friday ramped up health funding for poorer nations after accusations they are hoarding coronavirus vaccines, as US President Joe Biden and the rest of the leaders declared a “turning point” from the psychodramas of the Trump era.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this year’s chair of the G7, vowed to free up any surplus UK vaccines for poorer countries at a future date, and underlined the need for collective action to recover from the pandemic.

“We’ve got to make sure the whole world is vaccinated because this is a global pandemic and it’s no use one country being far ahead of another, we’ve got to move together,” he said in opening remarks at the online summit, the G7’s first since last April when the group was rent apart by then president Donald Trump. At the G7, Biden brought a pledge of $4 billion (4.6 billion euros) in US aid to the UN’s Covax fund to buy vaccines for global distribution.

Germany said it was giving an extra 1.5 billion euros for the global rollout, and the European Union doubled its own Covax funding to one billion euros. The total in G7 commitments stands at 7.5 billion euros, the group said in a joint statement following the talks.

“Drawing on our strengths and values as democratic, open economies and societies, we will work together and with others to make 2021 a turning point for multilateralism and to shape a recovery that promotes the health and prosperity of our people and planet,” the leaders added.

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