100 former Prime Ministers & Presidents demand G7 make world safe again by vaccinating poorer countries

• Polling reveals overwhelming support for western G7 countries paying for global vaccinating against Covid
• 70% of polled G7 nations support rich countries sharing cost burden

Toronto, 7 June – 230 world leaders, including 100 former prime ministers, presidents and foreign ministers have issued an emotional plea calling on the G7 to pay for vaccinating the world against COVID-19.

Former UK Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, former leaders of Ireland, President Mary Robinson and Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and leaders from every continent – former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, former New Zealand Prime Ministers Helen Clark  and Dame Jenny Shipley, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Shauket Aziz, former premier of Korea, Han Seung-soo, and 15 former African leaders including Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and John Mahama of Ghana are just some of the global pantheon of first citizens insisting the G7 summit take the necessary action to make us all COVID-19 safe.

The unprecedented pressure from former world leaders ahead of Friday’s G7 summit comes as an opinion poll commissioned by Save the Children across the G7’s western members (US, France, Germany, Canada and the UK), shows over 70% of the respondents with a view either way support the G7 paying a share of the $66bn needed for vaccines globally, in line with the size of their economies.

Among those who support or oppose the policy, the UK saw the highest level of support, with 79% compared to 21% opposing. The USA saw 76% support, 24% oppose; Canada: 73% support, 27% oppose; France: 63% support, 37% oppose; Germany: 71% support, 29% oppose.

Calling for 2021 to be ‘a turning point in global cooperation’, the pan-global leaders insist the first step is for the G7 ‘to lead the way by guaranteeing to pay 67 per cent of ACT-A requirements for health’ – around $30bn a year over two years – for what they say is ‘the best public investment in history’.

Former UK Premier, now UN Global Ambassador, Gordon Brown who has been pressing for a new global collaboration and G7 agreement on a burden-sharing plan to underwrite the cost of vaccinating the world, said:

“For the G7 to pay is not charity, it is self-protection to stop the disease spreading, mutating and returning to threaten all of us. Costing just 30p per person per week in the UK is a small price to pay for the best insurance policy in the world. Savings from vaccination are set to reach around $9 trillion by 2025.”

Bidisha Pillai, Global Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns Director for Save the Children, said: “When it comes to vaccine justice what stands out is that people of different ages, in different locations and with different backgrounds are united. They want the G7 to make the world safe again. Their publics will not accept anything less than a serious and fully-funded plan to crack the global covid-crisis.”

In Canada, more than 60% of adults have received their first dose and coverage rates in many rich countries are approaching half the adult population. Meanwhile much of sub-Saharan Africa has reached less than 2% of their adults.

The leaders pantheon also call for a global growth plan, debt restructuring and climate finance for the poorest countries and say that while ‘2020 witnessed a failure of global cooperation, 2021 can usher in a new era’.

The G7 leaders letter also calls for action to prevent an uneven and unbalanced recovery – and ensure a more inclusive, equitable and greener future; deliver on the proposed fund for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries; and ensure that their economic recovery plans boost renewables and green infrastructure.

Brown added: “The 230 names on the letter reveals the desire across every continent for leaders to set aside their differences and come together, show international cooperation can work and make the world the healthier, safer, greener and fairer place we all want to see.”

“I’m pleased Britain leads the way when asked whether each country should pay a proportion in line with the size of their economies. But in every country there is widespread support.

“There is also majority support for countries sharing some of their vaccine doses and pushing pharmaceutical companies to share how to make Covid vaccines free of charge.”

The polling revealed that in every country polled, at least 80% of those with a view either way backed rich G7 countries sharing some of the doses they have ordered. In Canada, a strong majority (67% of all respondents and 91% of those who gave a positive or negative opinion) supported Canada starting to share doses and civil society organizations are looking for Canada to make a strong commitment at the G7 meetings.

At least 79% of people in the western G7 countries who gave a positive or negative view supported intellectual property sharing schemes, that number rising to 91% support in Canada.

The results showed that across the five countries, supporters of every single mainstream political party except two – 2017 Alternative für Deutschland voters in Germany and 2017 Marine Le Pen voters in France – supported G7 countries boosting vaccinations in poorer countries.

ENDS

Notes to editors:
Stack Data Strategy, commissioned by Save the Children, polled nationally representative samples in France, Germany, the UK, the USA and Canada to assess the popularity of the G7 countries paying for the part of the $66bn it would cost to supply Coronavirus vaccines in low-income countries, and intellectual property and dose sharing schemes from G7 countries to low-income countries. Full data available on request or online here, from 07.06.21: https://www.stackdatastrategy.com/data

In the polling, respondents were given the following options:

• Strongly support
• Somewhat support
• Neither support nor oppose
• Somewhat oppose
• Strongly oppose
• Don’t know

Polling samples: