UK PM pledges to provide 100 million COVID-19 vaccines to the world

London, June 11: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson said that his country will provide 100 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 to the world, which are surplus to its requirements.

"As a result of the success of the UK's vaccine program, we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them," he said. The announcement was made ahead of the G7 summit, which will begin on Friday an will be hosted by the UK. Johnson had earlier called on leaders of the US, France, Canada, Italy, Germany and Japan to vaccinate the entire world by the end of next year.

The first five million doses will be donated by the end of September. 25 million doses will be donated by the end of the year. Eighty million of these 100 million doses will be shared through Covaxin, the global vaccine sharing programme. The remainder will be shared bilaterally with the countries in need.

Earlier US President, Joe Biden who is in the US to participate in the G7 summit said his country will purchase 500 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to donate to 92 million middle income countries as well as the African Union. At the summit the leaders are expected to announce that they provide at least a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world through dose sharing and financing.