Corona: G7 countries want to provide poorer countries with a billion vaccine doses

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People wait in front of a corona vaccination station in Kenya's capital, Nairobi

Photo: Brian Inganga / AP

The coronavirus is now gradually coming under control in Europe and North America, but the pathogen is spreading further in poorer regions of the world.

Now the G7 group of western economic powers wants to help poorer countries with a billion vaccine doses.

The British government announced on Friday night that this should be possible through both distribution and financing of vaccines.

"As a result of the successful UK vaccine program, we are now able to share some of our excess doses with those who need them," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

He hopes his counterparts will "make similar commitments so that together we can vaccinate the world and recover from the coronavirus by the end of next year."

The heads of state and government also want to work out a plan to expand vaccine production.

Johnson is hosting the three-day G7 summit this year, which begins on Friday afternoon in Cornwall, south-west England.

"Global solutions are required," quotes the dpa news agency from a draft of a "Health Declaration by Carbis Bay".

How exactly the amount of one billion vaccine doses will be achieved is apparently still unclear.

US President Joe Biden recently pledged a donation of 500 million vaccine doses to 92 poorer countries and the African Union.

They should be delivered by June next year at the latest and distributed with the help of the international vaccine initiative Covax.

100 million surplus vaccine doses from Great Britain are to go to Covax, among others.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also announced 100 million cans for poorer countries by the end of the year.

How much Germany could contribute to the donation remained open at first.

Merkel announced in May that she would donate 30 million cans to Covax by the end of the year.

At the same time, she pointed out that Germany also financially supported the program with more than one billion euros.

The federal government did not promise any additional contributions before the summit.

Development workers are pushing for patent clearance

Development organizations criticized the G7's donation plans as inadequate.

They also called for patent protection for vaccines to be lifted, for vaccine production technology to be passed on and for investments in regional production worldwide.

"Immediate distribution of vaccination doses is urgently needed at the moment and the billion vaccine doses are therefore welcome," said Jörn Kalinski from Oxfam.

But if that is all, "it must be counted as a failure".

The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that 11 billion vaccine doses are necessary - or at least eight billion to vaccinate 80 percent of the population in countries with low or middle incomes for herd immunity.

The organizations Oxfam, World Vision and One called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to follow the example of French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden as well as India and South Africa and to declare their support for a temporary release of the patents.

Merkel and the EU Commission had repeatedly spoken out against it because, from their point of view, it would not solve the problems.

Müller calls for the establishment of African vaccine production

Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller spoke out in the Augsburger Allgemeine, meanwhile, in favor of establishing an African vaccine production facility.

"That helps more than simply releasing patents, because it doesn't produce a single vaccine dose."

Critics of a release argue that the obstacle is not the patents, but production capacities, knowledge and raw material supplies.

EU Council President Charles Michel said: "A suspension of patents may sound good, but it is not a silver bullet." He pointed out that more than 270 million doses of vaccine had already been exported from the EU.

fek / dpa / AFP