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Vaccines for All or Vaccine Apartheid?

The G7 summit in Cornwall will determine who is vaccinated against COVID-19 and safe and who remains unvaccinated and at risk. Rich-country leaders may be tempted to share excess vaccines rather than finance the extra costs of global immunization, but this will not be enough.

LONDON – The G7 summit starting on Friday will mark the first time that world leaders have met in person for almost two years. It is Joe Biden’s first such meeting as US president and Angela Merkel’s last as German Chancellor. The gathering will also be the first test of what UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s oft-quoted “Global Britain” slogan actually means.

When thinking of past G7 summits, most people will remember little more than well-choreographed leaders’ photo opportunities. But on rare occasions, a G7 can bring meaningful policy breakthroughs. So it was in 2009 when, in consultation with African leaders, the Italian-hosted G8 broke new ground on international development. In introducing this session, I remember recounting fellow leaders of the story of a Rwanda schoolboy caught up in the genocide of the 1990s and now immortalized in the Kigali Genocide Memorial museum, where, in a section devoted to children, one can find his photograph and a plaque that reads:

David, age 11

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