London: The G7 leaders are set to sign a landmark global health declaration which is aimed at preventing future pandemics.
The UK government, which is hosting this year’s summit of the group of seven rich nations — US, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Japan — said in a statement from Downing Street that G7 leaders will commit to using every possible resource to ensure that a coronavirus-like pandemic doesn’t ever happen again.
It will be called the ‘Carbis Bay Declaration’.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pointed out that several countries have developed and manufactured COVID-19 vaccines for the world at an unprecedented pace, but a repeat pandemic needs to be prevented.
“That means learning lessons from the last 18 months and doing it differently next time around… I am proud that for the first time today the world’s leading democracies have come together to make sure that never again will we be caught unawares,” Johnson said.
An independent report, titled ‘100 Days Mission to Respond to Future Pandemic Threats’, will be presented by chief scientific adviser to the UK government Sir Patrick Vallance and American philanthropist Melinda Gates. It will deal with ways to speed up the time it takes to develop vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.
As part of the Carbis Bay Declaration, the UK will set up a centre to develop vaccines to prevent zoonotic diseases spreading from animals to humans.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 3.7 million deaths worldwide so far.
