Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson at a G20 health summit on Fridayagreed to deliver around 3.5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses at cost or discount to poorer nations in 2021 and 2022.   

Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla said that the US pharma giant will deliver 2 billion doses over the next 18 months. The first batch would be delivered in 2021 and will consist of 1 billion doses.

Moderna’s chief executive Stephane Bancel announced that up to 995 million doses will be delivered by them. The first batch would consist of upto 95 million doses would be delivered in 2021 and the second batch would consist of up to 900 million would be delivered in 2022.

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Paul Stoffels, vice chairman and chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson, said the company had a deal with Covax for up to 200 million doses in 2021, and was discussing “the potential supply of an additional 300 million… for a combined total of up to 500 million doses.”

Earlier, the EU pledged to donate 100 million vaccine doses to poorer countries, kicking off a global summit on how to recover from the pandemic — and avoid a new one.

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European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement alongside Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, the country which as the current chair of the G20 is co-hosting the meeting.

World leaders used the summit to emphasise the importance of scaling up vaccine efforts across the world and set out what they need to do to avoid another similar crisis.

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The EU also announced a new initiative to support local manufacturing in Africa, as von der Leyen said vaccines must reach “everybody, everywhere”.