Mon 07 June 2021:
Over 200 former prime ministers, presidents and foreign ministers are among 230 prominent figures calling on the leaders of the powerful G7 countries to pay two-thirds of the $66 billion needed to vaccinate low-income countries against Covid, Report informs referring to the Guardian.
“Support from the G7 and G20 that makes vaccines readily accessible to low and middle-income countries is not an act of charity, but rather is in every country’s strategic interest, and as described by the IMF [International Monetary Fund] is ‘the best public investment in history’,” a letter seen by The Guardian reads.
According to the newspaper, the letter pleads the G7 leaders, who will gather in the United Kingdom’s Cornwall from June 11-13, to help those in need.
The letter argues that “no one anywhere is safe from Covid-19 until everyone is safe everywhere”.
Prominent figures who have signed the letter include former UN secretary-general Ban-Ki Moon, former Irish president Mary Robinson and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and 15 former African leaders including presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Mahama of Ghana and FW de Klerk of South Africa..
Other signatories include the UK’s former overseas development minister Lynda Chalker, Virgin’s founder Sir Richard Branson, the head of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Jeremy Farrar, Nobel Laureate for economics Bengt Holmström and the economist Lord O’Neill.
The letter is said to have been signed by ex-prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as well as former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, 15 former African leaders and Nobel Laureate for economics Bengt Holmström, among others.
“Support from the G7 and G20 that makes vaccines readily accessible to low and middle-income countries is not an act of charity, but rather is in every country’s strategic interest, and as described by the IMF [International Monetary Fund] is ‘the best public investment in history’,” reads the letter.
During the G7 summit, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to call on the G7 leaders to commit to vaccinating the world’s entire population against the coronavirus by the end of 2022.
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