Britain announced Wednesday it will begin donating millions of coronavirus vaccine doses around the world, including to various Commonwealth countries, following its pledge to provide 100 million jabs globally by next June.
The United Kingdom said it was offering 817,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to Kenya, as it rolls out a promised 100 million jabs for global distribution by next June.
Prime
Minister Boris Johnson will formally agree the donation when he meets Kenyan
President Uhuru Kenyatta at the UK leader's country retreat at Chequers,
northwest of London, later on Wednesday.
The pair
are due to host a fundraising summit in London on Thursday -- attended by other
world leaders as well as business, charity, education and youth representatives
-- focused on global education efforts.
Around half
of the donated Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses will be dispatched to Nairobi
this week, Downing Street said ahead of the meetings.
"As
friends and allies, we are sharing UK vaccine doses to support Kenya’s fight
against the pandemic," Johnson added in a statement.
"From
boosting economic growth to addressing climate change and getting girls into
school, the UK and Kenya are working hand-in-hand to deliver a more secure and
prosperous world."
Britain has
committed to sharing 100 million Covid-19 vaccine shots by the middle of next
year through the Covax programme, which aims to ensure fair distribution of
jabs, and directly to individual countries.
It will
begin by donating nine million jabs, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab set to
unveil more details about the initial recipients later Wednesday.
The
commitments stem from G7 pledges, unveiled at a UK-hosted summit in June, to
provide at least one billion doses internationally through sharing and
financing schemes.
IMF growth
boost
The United
States has said it will donate 500 million jabs to 92 poorer nations, while
European Union members have agreed to donate at least 100 million by the end of
2021.
Richer
countries, in particular Britain, have faced criticism for failing to start
donating to poorer countries which are lagging far behind in their vaccination
drives.
The UK has
fully jabbed more than 70 percent of adults, and the government lifted all
remaining pandemic curbs on day-to-day life in England last week.
Daily
infection rates in Britain appear to be in decline -- boosting hopes of a
strong economic recovery.
"I'm
very pleased that this is a country that now has the highest proportion of
vaccinated adults of any country in the world," Johnson told LBC radio, in
an interview recorded Tuesday.
"There
will still be bumps on the road, but I think you'll see a story of steady
economic recovery and perhaps quite fast economic recovery as well."
The
International Monetary Fund on Tuesday forecast that Britain's economy would
grow by 7.0 percent this year, the joint fastest of any G7 country alongside
the United States.
But the IMF
also warned that the uneven distribution of vaccines is widening disparities as
rich countries pick up speed and leave developing nations behind.
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