UK’s Johnson to urge G-7 to commit to vaccinating world by end of next year

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly planning to urge world leaders to commit to vaccinating the entire globe by the end of year during the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) meeting.

“The world is looking to us to rise to the greatest challenge of the postwar era: defeating COVID and leading a global recovery driven by our shared values,” Johnson said in a statement on Sunday, The Associated Press reports.

“Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the single greatest feat in medical history,” he added.

President Biden along with world leaders from Canada, France, Italy and Japan will be meeting in Cornwall, England, this Friday for the first in-person G7 summit since the coronavirus pandemic began. This summit will be part of Biden’s first international trip since becoming U.S. president.

The AP notes that British media has reported Johnson intends to announce that the U.K. will be donating 2 billion pounds’ worth COVID-19 shots this year, with donations continuing into 2022.

The U.K. in February pledged to donate most of its excess coronavirus vaccine shots to the UN-backed COVAX program which provides free vaccines to low-income countries. However, the AP notes that British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that the country currently does not have any excess vaccine doses to spare, making it unclear how many doses it will be able to donate.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.6 billion coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.