G7 Chair’s statement on vaccine confidence

Today, the G7 Working Group on Vaccine Confidence convened the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit, which saw partners from all sectors commit to building trust and confidence in vaccines globally as a way to promote health worldwide and accelerate the world’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccines were recognised as one of the most successful and cost-effective public health actions and investments in history, currently saving between two and three million lives every year. They have an indisputable track record – eradicating smallpox and greatly reducing the incidence of other vaccine preventable diseases.

Partners celebrated the unwavering efforts of scientists across the globe to develop life-saving COVID-19 vaccines. Working in partnership with regulatory authorities responsible for setting the standards for the safety, efficacy and quality of vaccines and other health products, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and approved at historic speed thanks to unprecedented funding and global cooperation.

It was acknowledged that vaccine confidence is essential for the global uptake of any vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines, which are critical to our collective recovery and reducing the risk of further outbreaks.

Partners agreed that misinformation is damaging perceptions of the importance, safety, and effectiveness of vaccines. Left unaddressed, it will impede global uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, routine immunisations programmes, and diminish trust in public health bodies.

The availability and equitable accessibility of COVID-19 vaccines is currently posing a barrier to global uptake, however partners committed to ensure that confidence in vaccines is built early to allow prompt and mass uptake of vaccines when they become available.

Through the G7 Vaccine Confidence Working Group, the UK as Chair will push forward an ambitious agenda to build global confidence in vaccines and address the misinformation that is undermining it.

To be successful in addressing this complex issue, global cooperation spanning all sectors will be encouraged, including government and non government organisations, academia, the private sector, and trusted community leaders. By mobilising partners from these sectors, we hope to amplify the reach and impact of our work.

Together with leading researchers we will seek to build a greater understanding of the drivers of and barriers to vaccine confidence. This evidence-based approach will inform the shared tools, campaigns and best practices that are developed, with the recognition that these must be context-specific.

Partners recognised communications as an important lever in our collective recovery from the pandemic, as well as for global change, and supported the development and adoption of best practice communications principles. It was also acknowledged that communication activity to build vaccine confidence must be underpinned by strong science, community leadership, and policy mechanisms that promote the availability and equitable accessibility of vaccines to all populations locally and globally.

A collective global recovery from the pandemic will be one of the most important achievements of our lifetimes. As Chair, we resolve to undertake ambitious action on vaccine confidence in order to drive uptake of vaccines, bring an end to the acute phase of the pandemic, and protect countless lives around the world.