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Update July 2022 

Several of the international sources originally used for this paper have not been updated recently.

On the UK’s pledge to donate 100 million vaccines by June 2022, on 13 June the UK Government states that:

As of 13 June 2022, the UK has donated 84.1 million COVID-19 vaccines. Of these, approximately 76.5 million have been donated to COVAX [the international vaccine-sharing initiative], and 7.6 million donated bilaterally to countries in need.

On 6 June, the Government said the 100 million doses have been made available: 

 The UK has made available 100 million doses. However, global supply now far outstrips demand and countries around the world have greater access to and choice of vaccines. Dose donations are no longer critical. The challenge now is to ensure that developing countries can effectively administer vaccines and the UK supports the work of the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership to deliver on this.

Summary 

In June 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called upon G7 leaders to set a goal for the world to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus by the end of 2022.

The purchasing and administrating of Covid-19 vaccines has been unequal globally. As of 7 January 2022, only 9% of people in low-income countries (having a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita below US $1,045) have received at least one vaccine dose. In high-income states (GNI per capita above US$ 12,696), it was 77%.

At the G7 summit, hosted by the UK in June, leaders pledged to drive an “intensified international effort” to vaccinate the world. The leaders collectively pledged to donate 1 billion vaccines to Covax, the international vaccine-sharing initiative, and other countries over the next year. This was enough to vaccinate around 5% of the populations of lower-income countries by the end of 2021, according to the NGO ONE.

The G7 includes the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, and the EU.

The United Nations and World Health Organization welcomed the G7 pledge, but urged the doses to be donated during 2021, rather than in 2022. The pace of vaccine donations by high-income countries to Covax and to lower income countries has been criticised, including by the World Bank. 

This briefing sets out the pledges made by G7 leaders, and progress made against them. For information on the Covax initiative, which aims to ensure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, see the Library paper, Covax and global access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Update log:

8 February updated table on vaccine donations by G7 members.

4 July Update to this page only. 

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