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* CEPI urges G7 nations to donate COVID vaccines
* G7 split on issue of temporary waiver on vaccine patents
* UK says to agree on early warning system for next pandemic
(Adds CEPI interview)
By Alistair Smout
LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Britain hosted health ministers
from the Group of Seven (G7) rich countries in Oxford on
Thursday for a two-day summit, as pressure intensifies to do
more to broaden access to COVID-19 vaccines across the world.
British foreign minister Dominic Raab has said that
equitable access to coronavirus vaccines will be at the top of
the agenda when G7 leaders meet next week.
As health ministers gathered at the University of Oxford,
where AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine was invented,
Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said there was a moral duty for
G7 countries to start donating COVID-19 vaccines now.
"We must send vaccines to countries to protect their health
care workers and protect the vulnerable populations now,"
Hatchett told Reuters.
"G7 meetings don't always occur with a crisis of global
proportions and historic impact, and this is a critical, once in
a generation G7 meeting," he said.
Charities also stressed Britain could do more by supporting
a temporary waiver on intellectual property rights of
pharmaceutical firms.
U.S. President Joe Biden has backed calls from many
developing countries for the waiver, in the hope this would
boost production and allow more equitable distribution, but
Britain and some European countries have expressed reservations.
"G7 leaders must take this moment to stand on the right side
of history by putting their full support behind the vaccine
patent waiver," said Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy
Manager.
"The G7 may be getting the vaccines they need but too much
of the world is not and people are paying for patent protection
with their lives."
Britain has said technology transfers with not-for-profit
pricing, a model AstraZeneca has used, can achieve many of the
same aims as a patent waiver without disincentivising research.
British health minister Matt Hancock said he would agree
with G7 counterparts on a system to share data on any early
warning signs of the next pandemic.
"Globally we are only as strong as the weakest link in the
health security chain. No one is safe until everyone is safe,"
Hancock said in a statement.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Mark Potter and Toby
Chopra)
