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UK hosts vaccine summit amid calls for free coronavirus vaccine

Social distancing guidelines on the floor by train departure information screens to help stop the spread of coronavirus in Waterloo station, London, Thursday, June 4, 2020. Waterloo station, which is wide recognised as the busiest train station in Britain, is still much quieter than normal as most commuters are working from home and not commuting into central London offices. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Social distancing guidelines on the floor by train departure information screens to help stop the spread of coronavirus in Waterloo station, London, Thursday, June 4, 2020. Waterloo station, which is wide recognised as the busiest train station in Britain, is still much quieter than normal as most commuters are working from home and not commuting into central London offices. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) Social distancing guidelines on the floor by train departure information screens to help stop the spread of coronavirus in Waterloo station, London, Thursday, June 4, 2020. Waterloo station, which is wide recognised as the busiest train station in Britain, is still much quieter than normal as most commuters are working from home and not commuting into central London offices. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

By MARIA CHENG and LAURAN NEERGAARD / Associated Press 5 min read

LONDON (AP) – The British government is hosting a vaccine summit Thursday, hoping to raise billions of dollars to immunize children in developing countries and to discuss how any potential vaccine against the new coronavirus might be distributed globally – and fairly.

The United Nations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement have urged that “a people’s vaccine” be developed for COVID-19 that would be freely available to everyone, calling it a “moral imperative.”

Thursday’s event is a pledging conference for the vaccines alliance GAVI, which says the funds will be used to vaccinate about 300 million children in dozens of countries against diseases like malaria, pneumonia and HPV.

GAVI is also expected to start a new “advance market commitment” mechanism that it hopes will enable developing countries to get any effective COVID-19 vaccine when available.

But experts pointed out that the unprecedented pandemic – where arguably every country will be clamoring for a vaccine – may make such discussions extremely messy.