Shout more, give less! The UK aided only one-third of the promised vaccines

According to the British "Guardian" report, a recent data analysis of the G7's assistance to poor countries for covid-19 vaccines said that the UK only provided one-third of the recognized vaccine aid this year, which is the smallest number of vaccines in the G7 except Japan.

One, the group that released the report, said it was undoubtedly a "slap in the face" of the British government.

Romilly Greenhill, head of One's UK division, said britain had pledged to provide half as many vaccines as France this year, less than a third of Germany and one-tenth of the United States. She also said the UK hosted the G7 meeting this year, claiming to be a global leader in vaccine rollout. The truth, however, is that the ambitious UK is far behind other major economies. In this crucial week of the G20 summit, the UK budget review and the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, the UK's international reputation has been weakened.

The data report shows that the EUROPEAN Union has committed 200 million doses by the end of 2021, 280 million doses in the United States, 60 million doses in France, 100 million doses in Germany, 45 million doses in Italy, 41.5 million doses in Canada and 30 million doses in the United Kingdom. The latest figures show that the UK is currently offering only one-third of the number of vaccines promised this year.

U.S. President Joe Biden held a vaccine aid conference during the U.N. General Assembly in September, and Britain, which was supposed to have had an opportunity to change its initial pledge at the Group of Seven summit in June, was silent, and Prime Minister Johnson did not even attend the meeting.

At the U.N. summit, Biden raised the amount of pledged vaccine aid. So far, he said, the United States has pledged three shots for every shot of vaccine.

Greenhill said the British government is extremely cautious about the vaccines it promotes at home. While the UK's concerns about the domestic situation are understandable, it is ethically wrong for many people in the UK to get a third dose when health workers in low-income countries don't even have a single dose. There is also a broader practical interest – if the outbreak is to end, the UK really needs to vaccinate the world so that the global economy can recover.

She also said there was no indication that Britain would explain the imbalance in the number of vaccine aid pledges on the grounds of its own supply difficulties. The UK has pledged to provide 80% of the 30 million vaccines this year through WHO's Covax programme, with the remainder provided through bilateral relations.

Britain's announced vaccine aid plan for 2022 is more ambitious, with pledges to aid 100 million vaccines by the end of 2022, the same as Germany's goal, but far lower than France, the European Union and the United States. However, One said the focus is on the speed at which vaccines are delivered, as this will allow them to be vaccinated this winter. Greenhill also believes that the speed of vaccine delivery is the most important.

Source: China Daily