Britain will host the Health Ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries in Oxford today for a two-day summit. A G7 report on progress in efforts to improve health in developing countries will also be published. British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said that equitable access to Corona virus vaccines will be at the top of the agenda during the meeting.
British Health Minister Matt Hancock said, he would agree with G7 counterparts on a system to share data on any early warning signs of the next pandemic. He added that globally we are only as strong as the weakest link in the health security chain and that no one is safe until everyone is safe.
Many organizations have been stressing that Britain should support a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical firms. Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager said that the G7 may be getting the vaccines they need but too much of the world is not and people are paying for patent protection with their lives. US President Joe Biden has backed calls from many developing countries for the waiver, but Britain and some European countries have expressed reservations.
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