Bill Gates: UK must restore aid budget to boost vaccine rollout

An indigenous nurse of the Misak ethnic group prepares a dose of the Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19 to inoculate indigenous people in the Guambia indigenous reservation, Colombia. (File/AFP)

• The technology icon said that Britons should be proud of their role in supporting Gavi
• He added that Gavi’s impact would shrink if Britain’s commitment to spending 0.7% of GDP on aid continues to be cut

LONDON: Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has said that Britain must urgently restore its aid budget, saying its funding is of “critical importance” for the worldwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. 
The technology icon said that Britons should be proud of their role in supporting Gavi, an international vaccine distribution alliance. 
But he added that Gavi’s impact would shrink if Britain’s commitment to spending 0.7 percent of GDP on aid continues to be cut.
The budget was temporarily diminished due to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
“The quicker the UK can get its aid level back up to the 0.7 percent the better,” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday program.
“It’s been the strongest proponent of getting behind vaccines and making sure we eradicate polio, and with the cutbacks we won’t be able to do as much so I hope that gets restored because it is of critical importance.”
Gates’ comments come as the UK has been slammed for “unconscionable” cuts to aid to many Arab countries, including war-torn Yemen, where the UN has warned of a famine “knocking on the door.”
Somalia is another country in crisis, fearing the worst after concerns about Britain’s aid budget. Charity workers have warned that a significant portion of the country’s health clinics could be shut down by the cutbacks.
Gates said that he anticipated COVID-19 infection rates would be in “very small numbers” by the end of 2022 as the vaccine rollout reaches the rest of the world.
He added that the US and other major economies will have excess vaccines to share with the developing world within “the next three or four months.”
Gates said: “Because many of the vaccines worked, although we are looking at some of the side-effects now and making sure we can treat those and that they are very rare, that good news means we will be able to supply others.
“The other good news is that the actual death rate from this epidemic in the poorest countries has actually been quite low.
“So the places where you want to get everyone over 60 vaccinated, like South Africa, Brazil, that will become a priority just in the next three or four months . . . when the US will move into that excess position.”