Donations of at least one billion doses of COVID vaccine for the world have been promised by the leaders present at the G7 summit in Britain’s Cornwall. 500 million of these donations will be made by the United States, according to announcements made by Britain on Thursday.

The United Kingdom has vowed to provide at least 100 million such doses within the next year. Five million of those doses would be given in the coming weeks.

The country has been in the crosshairs of the international community for lack of donations for other countries struggling with the global health crisis. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who met with his American counterpart Joe Biden a day before the summit commenced, said vowed that would soon change.

He said, “As a result of the success of the UK’s vaccine program we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them. In doing so we will take a massive step towards beating this pandemic for good”, reported AFP.

Johnson went on to express his hope for similar efforts from other world leaders who will be attending the meeting on Friday to “build back better from coronavirus”.

A Downing Street statement said: “At the Summit world leaders are expected to announce they will provide at least one billion coronavirus vaccine doses to the world through dose sharing and financing and set out a plan to expand vaccine manufacturing in order to achieve that goal”, reported AFP.

According to Johnson’s office, a follow-up batch of COVID-19 vaccines will be donated by the end of September. The statement also said that these donations are aimed to help the world’s poorest countries.

By the end of this year, the country would have donated 25 million additional doses.

80% of the donations will be diverted towards Covax scheme, a global pool aimed toward making vaccines available for all, while the remaining will be shared on a bilateral basis.

Members of the European Union will be giving 100 million doses in total. France and Germany have each promised to provide 30 million units.