- Vaccinating children against the Covid virus will take priority over donating vaccines to other countries, said Britain’s Health Secretary.
- Global health bodies have warned of potential disasters if wealthy countries do not provide vaccines to poorer countries.
- “My first duty as health secretary for the UK is to make sure that the UK is protected and safe,” said Hancock.
LONDON, England: Vaccinating children against the Covid virus will take priority over donating vaccines to other countries, Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Friday.
Also on Friday, Britain’s medicine regulator approved the Pfizer vaccine for protecting 12 to 15 year olds.
However, global health bodies have warned of potential disasters if wealthy countries prioritize low-risk members of their own populations over providing vaccines to poorer countries.
“My first duty as health secretary for the UK is to make sure that the UK is protected and safe,” said Hancock.
“Whilst thankfully children are very rarely badly affected by COVID themselves, they can still pass on the disease, and so that is my first duty,” Hancock told Reuters following a meeting of G7 healthcare ministers in Oxford, central England.
“Alongside that, I’m working with my international colleagues to make sure that people can get access to the vaccine around the world.”
Prior to next week’s G7 meeting, Hancock hosted a meeting of health ministers from the Group of Seven at the University of Oxford.
The health ministers agreed to abide by new standards to improve clinical trials, along with donating vaccines when domestic circumstances allowed.
To date, Britain has given a first COVID-19 vaccine to three-quarters of all adults, and half of the adult population is fully vaccinated.
“As and when the UK has excess doses of vaccine, then, if we don’t need them, we’ll make sure they’re available to others,” Hancock said.
“But at the moment, we don’t have any excess doses, because as soon as the doses are available for the UK, we get them injected into British arms.”
