Former leaders and officials urge G7 countries to secure covid-19 vaccines to poor countries

Some 100 former leaders, prime ministers and foreign ministers have urged the G7 countries to provide funding for global vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus with the aim of preventing this deadly virus from mutating and threatening the world.

In a letter addressing the G7 summit, which is due to kick off its meetings in Britain next Friday, the former leaders and officials said that “international cooperation has failed in 2020, but it may herald a new phase in 2021,” stressing that “the support provided by the G7 and G20, that makes the covid-19 vaccines easily available to low and medium-income countries, is not charitable work, rather, it serves the strategic interest of all countries.”

 The former leaders and officials, among who were former UN Chief Ban Ki-moon and 15 African leaders, said that leaders of the G7 states and leaders of the other countries who were invited to attend the G7 summit should annually secure some 30 billion US dollars over two years to fight the epidemic in all parts of the world.

Hamda Mustafa