G7 expected to donate one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses

The Group of Seven (G7) is expected to donate one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries, according to remarks made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of a key summit.

The donation plans are to be outlined during a three-day summit hosted in Cornwall beginning today.

Johnson is also expected to announce today that the UK will donate 100 million surplus vaccine doses over the next 12 months, according to the Financial Times.

The move follows criticism that rich countries could waste large amounts of vaccine doses if they do not donate the surplus.

Earlier this week, Unicef asked the G7 group of countries to donate surplus doses in an effort to avoid such a situation.

Unicef has urged the G7 to donate 20% of their vaccines by August to low income countries, ahead of rolling out jabs to children under the age of 18 years.

"At some point, no doubt, we will need to vaccinate under-18s. But the priority at this moment has to be making sure that all of the vulnerable and priority groups around the world get vaccines,” Lily Caprani, vaccine lead at Unicef, told BBC News.

"So we're saying countries like the UK and the G7 need to donate their doses to those low income countries now, while still vaccinating their populations at home."

Earlier this week, the US committed to donating 500 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to lower income countries through Gavi and the WHO’s vaccine sharing facility COVAX.

FDA extends shelf-life of single-dose J&J vaccine

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the shelf life of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose COVID-19 vaccine.

Millions of doses in the US are nearing their expiration dates, as safety concerns surrounding the vaccine mean that almost half of the 21 million doses secured by the US haven't been used.

The decision is based on data from ongoing studies of the vaccine, which demonstrated that the jab remains stable at 4.5 months when it is stored at refrigerated temperatures of 2° to 8° degrees celsius.

J&J has said that vaccine providers can check expiration dates of vaccines currently available in the US by visiting its website.