G-7 summit opens with talks on pandemic, climate change
LA TimesPresident Biden and other leaders of the Group of 7 nations pose for a photo on the beach in Carbis Bay, St. Ives, in England Friday, at the start of their summit. Biden, eager to show the world on his first overseas trip as president that the United States wants to again play a global leadership role, has committed to purchasing 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and donating them to COVAX, the organization managing vaccine distribution efforts around the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the group’s commitments and discussions over the three-day summit would show the world that “we’re not just thinking of ourselves.” Merkel, who is just months from the end of her 15-year run as chancellor, will visit Biden at the White House in July, the administration announced Friday. The U.S. will begin shipping doses to other countries in August, with 200 million vaccines expected set to be distributed by year’s end and another 300 million doses in the first half of 2022. Johnson, in a statement, said the commitments from other G-7 member nations were critical in ensuring the world can “build back better from coronavirus,” adopting Biden’s domestic economic slogan for the international agenda.