Bruton supports Brown proposal on vaccines

Airlift of surplus vaccines to poorer countries would save many lives

Former Meath TD and Taoiseach, John Bruton, this morning said he is happy to be one of the signatories of a letter to the G20 leaders, meeting in Rome this weekend, calling on them to airlift surplus Covid 19 vaccines, unlikely to be used in high income countries, to low income countries, where vaccine rates are dangerously low.

"Gordon Brown estimates that 240 million unused vaccines will accumulate in the EU, the US , Canada and the UK, by the end of the year, and that 100m of these will have passed their ”use by” date by then," Mr Bruton stated.

"It is calculated that, for every 100m vaccines administered, 120000 lives will be saved.

"The more vaccines that are administered in Africa, and in other low income countries, the less likely will be the development of new variants of Covid, which could spread back into better off countries. Gordon Brown’s proposal is a sound one."