PARIS: The number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered worldwide passed 200 million Saturday, an AFP count showed, as wealthy G7 countries pledged to more than double aid to support access for the less well-off.
With 45 per cent of injections so far among the rich club — which accounts for just 10 per cent of the global population — the G7 on Friday said its aid to projects like the World Health Organization’s Covax now amount to $7.5 billion.
The increased pledges from the US, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada came as permanent UN Security Council member Britain showed a draft resolution to other countries on the global body, calling for wealthy nations to share doses with poor and war-torn states.
Seen by AFP, the text “emphasises the need for solidarity, equity and efficacy, and invites donation of vaccine doses from developed economies to low- and middle-income countries and other countries in need.” Meanwhile, Russia pressed ahead with its home-grown vaccination programme, saying 120,000 doses of its third authorised coronavirus vaccine, CoviVac, will reach people by March, following in the footsteps of the Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona shots.
The new vaccine, still in final stage clinical trials, was produced by the state-run Chumakov Centre based in Moscow and employed a different method of development from Sputnik and EpiVacCorona, using an inactive virus.
“Today Russia is the only country in which there are already three vaccines for the prevention of Covid infection,” Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said. — AFP
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