London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

Gordon Brown leads calls for $60bn of Covid support for poor countries

Gordon Brown leads calls for $60bn of Covid support for poor countries

Former PM urges G7 leaders to help finance rapid immunisation programme to stem spread of virus

A whirlwind six-week campaign to persuade the UK-hosted G7 summit to fund a $60bn two-year vaccine and healthcare support package for poor countries is being spearheaded by the former prime minister Gordon Brown.

In a campaign backed by the Guardian, leaders of the west’s leading economies are being urged to invest a fraction of the sums spent fighting Covid-19 domestically to help finance rapid immunisation programmes and the wider health response to the virus in less well-off countries, to check the virus’s global spread.

“We have got to take action to get money into poor countries,” Brown said. “Nobody is safe until everybody is safe. The only way to get the guaranteed financing for health is to get some burden sharing. It is not good enough to have a glorified whip-round.”

Brown is one of a number of global figures behind the campaign, who include Graça Machel, the advocate for women and children’s rights, and Winnie Byanyima, the director of UNAids.

The former prime minister said the crisis in India demonstrated the futility of rich countries trying to insulate themselves from the pandemic, and more generous funding of the global immunisation programme would pay off many times over.


Even the most heavily vaccinated countries remain vulnerable to new coronavirus variants, which are likely to emerge where infection rates are highest and will probably be spread as global travel resumes. Variants first identified in Brazil and South Africa are thought to have some potential resistance to existing vaccines.

Global health is a key item on the agenda when the G7 – comprising the UK, US, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan – meets in Cornwall in mid-June. Brown said the summit should commit to ensuring poor countries were vaccinated and supported to get access to vital therapeutic and diagnostic equipment. He also wants the G7 to use its financial muscle at the World Bank and the IMF to finance wider support for health workers and hospitals in poor countries.

A meeting of officials from G7 countries is taking place on 10 May, when it will become clearer whether the summit will deliver on a global pandemic plan.

Campaign groups and aid charities are being mobilised through an umbrella group of climate, development and environment agencies – Crack the Crises – in the hope of repeating the gains of Make Poverty History, which successfully lobbied the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 for debt relief and a doubling of aid.

Jamie Drummond, the co-founder of the campaign group One and a driving force behind Crack the Crisis, said: “At this G7 our prime minster [Boris Johnson] can and must channel any Churchillian instincts he aspires to have, rise to the history of the moment and get agreed a clear global roadmap for vaccines coverage victory, with the G7 countries paying their fair share, sharing excess doses and sharing rights to scale vaccine production sustainably.

“This isn’t simply morally right. Economists and epidemiologists concur that frontloading the finance to deliver global vaccines coverage is the smartest investment ever on offer – saving tens of trillions of pounds, millions of lives and years of misery and uncertainty for citizens in the UK and the world over.”

Vaccination rates vary enormously around the world. In high-income countries, one in four people have been vaccinated compared with one in 500 in low-income countries. In the UK and the US, more than half the population has had at least one dose. Fewer than 10% of people in India have had a jab. Many frontline health workers globally have not had a single shot.

Some G7 countries including the UK, US and Germany have contributed to Covax – the global initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid vaccines – but Brown said there was still a funding shortfall.
Estimates suggest a two-year programme to provide jabs, testing kits and oxygen, and improve healthcare delivery, would cost more than $80bn over two years, of which $19bn has so far been provided by donor countries.

Lobbying of G7 leaders is expected to intensify over coming weeks, with an international petition demanding action already signed by 1.5 million people.

Under a formula for burden sharing, 89 rich and middle-income countries would be asked to make a financial contribution. The G7 – which accounts for more than half of global output – is being urged to show a lead to the broader G20 group of countries. Brown said if the G20 weighed in behind the plan, almost 90% of the necessary investment would be covered.

Britain, which borrowed £300bn in the past year to fund the cost of Covid, would need to find about $3bn under the formula – less than the Treasury has saved by reducing the aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of national income last year. Brown said that what the G7 “spent in billions it would gain in trillions”.

Kevin Watkins, the director of Save the Children, said: “The ethics, economics, and epidemiology all point to the urgency of the G7 stepping up … G7 leaders have been talking the talk on international solidarity in the face of Covid-19; they now need to walk the financial walk.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
×