British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he hopes the G7 will reach an agreement on the implementation of vaccine passports and start discussions on a global pandemic preparedness treaty at next month’s meeting in the UK.
“We need to have agreements on things like vaccine passports, COVID status certification and the rest,” Johnson told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton in an exclusive interview in Canada that airs today.
“There has to be some kind of agreement then, at the G7 level, to begin with, on how travel and passports are going to work in the future.”
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said it is too early to discuss reopening the country to international travel, a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office after Thursday’s virtual meeting between prime ministers and Trudeau said the discussions on the subject have started.
“A broad consensus emerged from discussion among prime ministers on collaborative efforts to develop a proof of vaccination credential to allow international travel based on sound principles, including respect for provincial and territorial jurisdiction and privacy of the health information, “the statement said.
The provinces must find a way to work with the federal government on the issue because vaccination records are held at the provincial level, while international borders and passport issuance are under federal jurisdiction.
Johnson said he sees a vaccine certification regime, or vaccine passport, as just one part of an international pandemic preparedness treaty that would establish approaches to coping with the next pandemic.
“If you look at what happened in the world in 2020, it was a terrible year for humanity and it was a terrible year for the international system,” Johnson said. Rosemary Barton Live.
“It was a terrible year for believers in global cooperation because the world just balkanized and everyone was, was sauté qui peut. Everybody clung to their stocks of protective gear PPE. “
Johnson said countries around the world were finding it difficult to share drugs and vaccines, national quarantine and shutdown approaches varied wildly, and global supply chains for essential products were disrupted.
“We need to have rules so that there can be no cross-border supply disruptions, so that we have secure supply chains for the things that we depend on in the future,” Johnson added.
Johnson also said it is critical to ensure that surplus vaccine doses requested by developed countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom are shared with low-income countries as quickly as possible.
“No one is safe until everyone is safe,” he said. “What we want the G7 to try to agree is that instead of vaccinating everyone by 2024 or 2025, which is … what we would achieve with the current schedule, we have to do it by the end of next year, by 2022.” .
The scientific advice we have is that [Oxford-AstraZeneca is] a very, very valuable dose and its benefits are very considerable.– Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Johnson said his government reached an agreement with the makers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to ensure the doses are shared with the world at a cost.
Johnson said he would work with the G7 and Canada to ensure that COVAX is fully funded and that its efforts to distribute vaccines are accelerated, noting that his government has invested about $ 1 billion in the COVAX initiative.
COVAX is a global vaccine exchange initiative coordinated jointly by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.
The program pools funds from richer countries to buy vaccines for those countries and to ensure that low- and middle-income countries also have access to vaccines.
The federal government bought COVAX for $ 440 million in September and committed an additional $ 75 million in February. Half of the original $ 440 million doses secured for Canadians, while the other half went to provide doses to 92 countries that needed help obtaining vaccines.
Oxford-AstraZeneca
Most of the doses COVAX distributes are of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been linked to rare but life-threatening blood clots. In Canada, the provinces have stopped giving the vaccine as the first dose, but Johnson said he is not concerned about its safety.
“I’m going to totally trust … our medical health authorities, regulatory authorities,” he said. “They look at these things very carefully. They take a very prudent, very precautionary approach and have given us the go-ahead. And we think the overwhelming benefits for people lie in getting vaccinated.”
Johnson said that despite the position the UK has taken on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Canadians should follow medical and scientific advice provided by Canadian officials.
“But the scientific advice we have is that it is a very, very valuable dose and its benefits are very considerable,” he said.
You can watch full episodes of Rosemary Barton live at CBC Gem, CBC’s streaming service.