COVID-19: Boris Johnson will call on the G7 to vaccinate the world against the coronavirus by the end of next year | UK News

The Prime Minister will call on G7 leaders to commit to vaccinating the world’s population against COVID-19 by the end of 2022.

Boris Johnson plans to use the group’s UK presidency to lobby vaccination coverage over the next 18 months.

When he meets a comrade G7 leaders face to face on Friday – including the president Joe biden for the first time since his electoral victory – Mr Johnson will call on them to “take on the greatest challenge of the postwar years” to stop the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected at least 172 million people and killed more than 3.7 million people worldwide.

Johnson said: “The world expects us to take on the greatest challenge of the postwar years: to conquer COVID and lead a global recovery guided by our shared values.

“Vaccinating the world by the end of next year would be the greatest achievement in the history of medicine.

“I call on my fellow G7 leaders to join us in ending this terrible pandemic and I promise that we will never let the devastation caused by the coronavirus happen again.”

According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University in the United States, some 2.076 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered worldwide so far.

But with most vaccines available requiring two doses for full protection, that number is not enough.

The UK has gained access to more than 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines over the next two years, after building a portfolio of seven different vaccines.

Some 67 million doses have already been administered, with over 27 million people fully vaccinated, and many parts of the UK are now vaccinating people in their 20s.

The prospect of immunizing children …