The United Kingdom will host a vaccine summit in 2022 together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to raise funds for cutting vaccine development time to 100 days which could help prevent future epidemics, the UK government announced on Friday
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th April, 2021) The United Kingdom will host a vaccine summit in 2022 together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to raise funds for cutting vaccine development time to 100 days which could help prevent future epidemics, the UK government announced on Friday.
The announcement comes ahead of the in-person meeting of foreign and development ministers of the Group of Seven most industrialized Western economies to be held in London next week and where global health will be on the agenda.
According to the statement, the UK is using its G7 rotatory presidency to ensure lessons are learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic and the world is better prepared for the future.
"UK scientists and researchers have led pioneering work to create life-saving vaccines, now being rolled out in the UK and around the world. But ultimately, we need to be prepared for future pandemics," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was quoted as saying.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock also joined forces with Raab in urging world support for the fund-raising initiative, saying that "global health is at the heart of the UK's G7 presidency."
"No one is safe until we're all safe and this last week has seen more global cases of COVID-19 that at any point in the pandemic. We must all work together to strengthen health security," he said.
CEPI's chief executive officer Richard Hatchett said that now is the moment to "capitalise on the rare alignment" of political will, practical experience and technical progress emerging from the current coronavirus pandemic to prevent such devastation happening again.
The exact date of the summit is yet to be announced.
