- The British Government will host a summit of global leaders and health experts in 2022, in a bid to better prepare for future pandemics
- The U.K., alongside the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) wants to significantly reduce vaccination development times
- They argue cutting development time by two-thirds, or to 100 days, could help save millions of lives and avert future pandemics
- U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said alongside saving lives, faster vaccine development could also help mitigate the economic effects of a pandemic
- News of the summit also comes as the number of cases of coronavirus across the globe ticked over 150 million, with more than three million deaths
The British Government will host a summit of global leaders and health experts in 2022, in a bid to better prepare the world for future pandemics.
The event will be hosted alongside the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which aims to reduce or eliminate future virus pandemics.
The aim of the summit is to significantly reduce vaccination development times during a pandemic, helping reduce the overall loss of life.
The U.K. Government and CEPI argue cutting vaccine development time by two-thirds, or to 100 days, could help save millions of lives and avert future pandemics
“Now is a moment to capitalise on the rare alignment of political will, practical experience, and technical and scientific progress emerging from COVID-19 to prevent such devastation happening again,” CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett said.
“CEPI has laid out an ambitious plan that aims to dramatically reduce or eliminate the risk of future pandemics and the UK has embraced the central pillar of that plan – the aspiration to compress vaccine development timelines to as little as 100 days – as part of its G7 agenda,” Richard explained.
U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock also argues faster vaccine development could help mitigate the economic and social effects of a pandemic.
“No one is safe until we’re all safe and this last week has seen more global cases of COVID-19 that at any point in the pandemic. We must all work together to strengthen health security,” he said.
“The UK’s leadership in developing a vaccine that can be used around the world has been vital in the fight against COVID-19. We look forward to working with CEPI to speed up vaccine development, creating a global solution to ensure we’re better prepared for future pandemics,” the Health Secretary added.
The British Government announced the 2022 summit ahead of a G7 meeting of global leaders, which will run from May 3 to May 5.
The news of the summit also comes as the number of cases of coronavirus across the globe ticked over 150 million, according to John Hopkins University.
The leading research body reports 3.16 million people have died since the pandemic began, with the U.S., India and Brazil the worst affected nations.