LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has started shipping COVID-19 vaccines to delegates attending global climate talks it is hosting next month who cannot access them at home, with the first shots to be delivered next week.
The COP26 conference, postponed from last year, takes place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Glasgow.
Typically delegates from more than 190 countries attend the annual talks, but with many countries still grappling with the novel coronavirus, climate and health experts have said poorer nations struggling to access COVID-19 vaccines could find sending delegates difficult.
“Vaccines are shipping and vaccination will begin next week and through mid-September before second jabs in October well ahead of COP26,” British COP26 envoy John Murton said on Twitter on Friday.
He did not specify where the vaccines would be sent or how many are being shipped.
Britain said in June it would offer vaccines to those who needed them but some civil society groups have since raised concerns time was running out for two jabs to be given before the conference begins.
The talks aim to spur more ambitious commitments by countries to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and keep the global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius during this century, in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
(Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Toby Chopra)
