British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce an ambitious 100-day target to create vaccines for new diseases at tomorrow’s G7 meeting, pushing world leaders to back his plan.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s virtual meeting — which he will chair with leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US — Johnson will lay out the UK’s G7 priorities to address the pandemic and improve global health collaboration.
"The development of viable coronavirus vaccines offers the tantalising prospect of a return to normality, but we must not rest on our laurels. As leaders of the G7 we must say today: never again," he said.
"Perhaps more than ever, the hopes of the world rest on the shoulders of scientists and over the last year, like countless times before, they have risen to the challenge."
Johnson described the development of a coronavirus vaccine in approximately 300 days as a huge and unprecedented global achievement.
He now aims to reduce that time by one third to create new vaccines for emerging diseases in 100 days to prevent the catastrophic health, economic and social repercussions seen in the current global pandemic crisis.
"By harnessing our collective ingenuity, we can ensure we have the vaccines, treatments and tests to be battle-ready for future health threats as we beat Covid-19 and build back better together."
SHARE ME