G7 set to pledge 1 billion vaccine doses

The Group of Seven nations are set to commit at least 1 billion coronavirus vaccine shots to nations struggling to contain the virus.

At least half of these doses will come from the United States and 100 million from the United Kingdom.

In Cornwall, England, for the G7 summit, leaders from the member nations will kick off the conference with opening greetings and a "family photo," followed by a session on "Building Back Better From COVID-19."

"We're going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners," US President Joe Biden said. The country has pledged 500 million doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to developing nations.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged 100 million doses, and other G7 nations are expected to outline their vaccine donation commitments at the three-day summit.

Jürgen Trittin, a member of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee and former environment minister, said more action was needed to achieve herd immunity.

"This is an important step that the G7 will deliver around 1 billion vaccine doses, but it's not enough," Trittin told DW, noting that scaling up industrial production remained a problem for poorer nations.

Trittin also said that lifting vaccine patents, which the US had called for, was not a solution.

"The producers have their cooperation partners even in the South. The problem [is] export hurdles. And these hurdles come from the US and also from [the] UK ... So, I think it's a little bit of a blame game, a scapegoat game, that Joe Biden is playing here," Trittin said.