G20 leaders vow unity; to boost vaccine access to fight Covid-19 pandemic

To sign 'Declaration of Rome'- guiding principles that prioritise multilateralism

Major drugmakers and rich nation leaders faced up on Friday to the startling global imbalance in fighting Covid-19 and made big pledges to up supplies of cut-price vaccines to poorer regions.

Lavishly-funded mass inoculation campaigns are helping the West and others slash infections, but few shots have reached poorer nations where the virus is still raging, sometimes uncontrollably, drawing accusations of "vaccine apartheid".

“If we do not close this immense gap, more people will die needlessly. There are two immediate actions countries can take: share dollars and doses,” Bill Gates said.

The summit was to call for voluntary licensing and technology transfers to boost vaccine production, but will sidestep a push from the United States and other nations to waive valuable patents, a joint declaration showed.

The European Union promised to invest 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to set up vaccination manufacturing hubs in Africa. 

China pledges billions

China’s President Xi Jinping pledged $3 billion in aid over the next three years to help developing countries recover from the pandemic and proposed setting up an international forum to promote fair distribution of vaccines.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU will make a proposal to facilitate the use of those clauses and added that Europe would donate at least 100 million doses to poorer nations by the end of the year, including 30 million each from France and Germany.

Leaders at the gathering were due to sign the so-called Declaration of Rome, a set of guiding principles ranging from ensuring fair distribution of vaccines to ramping up production and possibly using compulsory licenses.

WTO urges leaders to negotiate IP waiver

The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Friday called on the leaders of the Group of 20 nations to make progress in negotiations on a proposal to waive intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines.

Vaccine makers pledge 3.5 bn doses for poorer nations

Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J pledged over 3.5 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines at cost or discount for poorer nations at the Global Health Summit. US pharma giant Pfizer said it will deliver around 2 billion doses over the next 18 months, which shall include over 1 billion doses in 2021 itself, its chief said.  Agencies