The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Boris Johnson said the country will donate at least 100 million of its surplus covid19 vaccines within the next year.

In a statement on Friday, the British High Commission announced the distribution will begin in the coming weeks with five million doses.

It said the donation is in addition to the UKs work to support the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s contribution to fighting covid19 and its financial backing to the Covax facility.

“The pledge comes ahead of the G7 summit, which began in Cornwall on Friday. Last week, (Johnson) asked fellow G7 leaders to help vaccinate the entire world by the end of next year.”

The statement said world leaders at the summit are expected to announce they will provide at least one billion covid19 vaccine doses to the world through dose sharing and financing, and will also set out a plan to expand vaccine manufacturing in order to achieve this goal.

“The UK will donate five million doses by the end of September…primarily for use in the world’s poorest countries.”

It said the remaining 95 million doses will be distributed within the next year, including 25 million more by the end of 2021, with 80 per cent of the 100 million doses going to Covax, and the remainder shared bilateraly with countries in need.

“By sharing five million doses in the coming weeks, the UK will meet an immediate demand for vaccines for the countries worst affected by (covid19) without delaying completion of (the UKs) initial domestic vaccination programme.”

It said with the support of the UK Government, Oxford-AstraZeneca is distributing its vaccines on a not-for-profit basis around the world.

“Thanks to this commitment, half a billion people have received a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca so far.”

Johnson said, “As a result of the success of the UK’s vaccine programme we are now in a position to share some of our surplus doses with those who need them.

“As the G7 Summit I hope my fellow leaders will make similar pledges so that, together, we can vaccinate the world by the end of next year and build back better from (covid19).”