Former PM Gordon Brown Discusses Vaccine Mission & The UK & US's 'Special Relationship' | GMB

this is worrying isn't it a new study is saying that a staggering stockpile of 100 million coronavirus vaccines are going to expire by december the newly appointed newly appointed excuse me as the world health organization's ambassador for global health financing former prime minister gordon brown is calling for action to avoid wasting those jabs as poorer countries face shortages he has sent the study to world leaders including joe biden ahead of a virtual coveted summit this week and he joins us now very good morning to you mr brown i can't believe that we are even talking about the fact that 100 million covered vaccines might go to waste why do world leaders need to be prompted to sort this out well you hate waste i hate waste everybody hates waste and the idea that we've over ordered and we've over stocked and these vaccines will pass their use by date in america in europe in canada in britain and it adds up to 100 million and it could be even higher because if we don't airlift these vaccines to countries that need them it could be 200 million going to waste is completely appalling and that's why you know boris johnson you said is about to meet president biden i've been at these meetings between prime ministers and presidents you don't spend too much time on the photo opportunities get down to work and he and joe biden could agree a plan get the vaccines out to those who need it and it's in everybody's interest because if the disease spreads in africa and low-income countries it mutates new variants come back here and the haunt even the fully vaccinated here will be at risk it's in everybody's interest to get these vaccines out to the people who need them you've been making that point really cogently mr brown i heard you making it originally about two three months ago i think on the radio for today program and and you put it more clearly than anyone else and it's simply that as you just said this isn't altruism this isn't us being wonderful and and open-handed to the third world this is actually about protecting us isn't it yeah nobody's safe till everybody's safe i mean we're all going to live in fear until nobody's in fear until we get control of this virus so only two percent have been vaccinated in africa only two percent in other low-income countries across the world 70 here and i'm saying look we've got these extra vaccines we're going to waste them if we don't do something about them we need to get them to the to the rest of the world and even after we've done the boosters and even after six million vaccines for the children there is enough left over we think about a billion vaccines in the west in europe in america by december get them out to people who need them and get them out as quickly as possible and we help ourselves i don't want to see new variants and the biggest worry is that africa becomes the center for covert and the disease comes back to britain and to other countries because we haven't actually got the people in africa vaccinated because it would put us right back to square one if that happened if there was a variant in africa a completely different variant which these vaccines that we have at the moment simply wouldn't be able to protect us from we'd be right back to where we were two two january marches ago right back to the beginning yeah and we think from the figures that have been done by this group affinity and approved by the world health organization we think in the next year a hundred million more people could contract this disease if we don't get vaccination around the world and a million more people could die these are huge life and death figures that we really need to do something about and it does come back to hear i want to make every child in this country safe every vulnerable adult safe and the way to do it is to vaccinate not just ourselves and i do appeal to people to get vaccinated here but to vaccinate the whole world yeah i i think that people might watching might think well hang on a moment because we hadn't expected to do the vaccinations of young teenagers and we hadn't expected to do the booster vaccine there was a hope that the double jab might be enough so you know is there a reason to be a little bit cautious about those jabs that we have in reserve because there may be other reasons why we would need to use them well susanna that's that's a really important question and i've looked at that and the experts have looked at that and there are still enough vaccines to get around the world so we can do the boosters and that's maybe 20 million people in britain at 6 million for the 12 to 15 year olds we can hold some back in reserve and we still have what we think are about 300 million vaccines left over that are unused at the moment a billion by christmas and about a hundred million of these could be wasted if we don't take action on caution you're an expert i mean everybody hates waste as i said you're an ex-prime minister you have not an ex-chancellor you have enormous clout you've been making this point you've been banging on about if i can put it that way for about three or four months now and yet we still have this lethargy nothing seems to be happening what's holding what's holding up government responses in the west well the only people that can make this decision are the leaders of the big countries you can't rely on the world health organization or the imf or anybody else they hold the vaccines they control the vaccines boris johnson and joe biden can make a decision and say look we've looked at our supplies we've got these access let's get them around the world now i've been calling for a vaccine summit for some time and it is now to take place and i hope that all those people who join me in calling for that will take some pride in the fact it's happening it's happening on wednesday but out of wednesday you need a comprehensive plan to say let's vaccinate the world let's make everybody safe and let's do it as quickly as possible and not waste vaccines that have been so well discovered by the genius of british scientists it'd be it would be a crime that all their genius goes to waste if we can't get it to the people who need them it's not just loading these boxes of vaccines onto planes and flying them out to countries like africa we've got to have the infrastructure to deliver the jabs haven't we yeah and we've been working on that as well and the world bank has got money that it's going to give to african countries and indeed is giving at the moment so that they can build up their ability to administer the vaccines not just in the cities but of course in the rural areas and in the small towns and villages it's got to be done but there is a history of vaccinating children in africa and it can be done the key however is to get these vaccines airlifted out of britain you know in america it said that 34 million vaccines have already been wasted i'm talking about 100 million by christmas it could be an even higher figure if we don't get action soon and as i keep wanting to remind people it's in all our interests that this happens um gordon brown what do you make of the state of the special relationship um what is how respected is boris johnson i mean we have just had this hugely significant defense partnership orcas it's obviously ruffled feathers uh in france and uh in china but it does rather signify that we have a really important connection and that couldn't have been struck without a very important relationship between the uk and the us yeah it's really an indispensable relationship and i worked very hard with president bush and then president obama to keep that relationship strong and i know that it's in britain's interest that it's as strong as possible what i think has happened after afghanistan is america is learning that it used to act unilaterally and it just did what it wanted because it thought that it had complete hegemony now it's having to realize it's got to work with partners it's not america first anymore america must work with other countries and you see if i was boris johnson walking into the oval office as he will on uh tomorrow i would say to president biden let's get down to the things that we can work together on climate change let's get that sorted out for the november conference the recovery of the economy we've got to coordinate policy around the world then on vaccination let's get vaccines to everybody who needs it and prove that when we get together we can actually make some difference i mean too often these meetings are just photocalls and just words what we've got to do is get more action than we got out of the g7 summit when it was held in cornwall in june we actually need to get things done but does the orcas alliance show that that relationship is strong or does the disaster over america pulling out of afghanistan and the uk seeming to be left in the dark show that the relationship is weak i mean how much power does boris johnson have when he goes into that oval office well i think um america holds britain in good standing look at last night at the emmy awards it's british artists it's british films it's british actresses and actors that are winning the awards i think people know that britain is a power to be recognized but you've got to have a plan you can't go in blind you can't go in and say look let's work together you've got to say let's do this and do that and let's prove that not only the special relationship works but the world can work better together when america and the united kingdom are in our arms working in unison a straight question based on the politics of the personal i'd like like to know your opinion on this i think everybody has an opinion on this and it's about mr biden's cognitive abilities we've been discussing it on the program earlier it's been widely discussed in the media on both sides of atlantic and indeed around the world there are real concerns about these memory lapses which he keeps seeming to have the latest one for getting the name of the australian prime minister and calling him that fellow down under but there are many many many others i mean far more than we've ever seen in any president before are you again as an ex-prime minister are you worried about the mental health of the president of the united states no i know joe biden i've worked with joe biden i've met him on many occasions i went to latin america with him to sort out the financial crisis uh joe bite look george bush was criticized for forgetting names and getting people's names wrong donald trump was criticized for that as well i think the important thing about jill biden is he does want to get things done and i think they have learned from this afghanistan fiasco that they need to work with other countries you know there were 36 countries had troops in afghanistan and they didn't consult them what i think they're now having to learn is they've got to work together and that gives britain a very special place let's work together to get things done so joe biden is a good man and what you see is what you uh what what you have is what you see he's very straightforward all right um let's just finish on on another personal note um you were very fortunate some years ago to to meet jimmy grieves in fact you you presented him with a medal didn't you yeah oh jimmy graves a great footballer and i remember the the greaves and ian st john program on television that we watched and i of course remember remember the 1966 say world cup he didn't play in the final but he was a great footballer and i admire the skill of footballers we've got great modern day footballers in in in britain but jimmy grieves is a legend never to be forgotten great footballer we can see footage of you presenting him with the medal could you just remind us what it was now that i did i think that was a medal for what what he was doing for charity i i i do it was the world cup medal wasn't it no it was it was it was um there was a change in the rules in fact and he he got his world cup medal that he should have got all those years before that's right yes you can't see the pictures no no i can't see it because i'm on it but that's that was a great ceremony and jimmy grief should have got the medal long before that and of course we have uh recognized with knighthood many people have played in the world cup and i think we need to recognize every single player who was in that team i agree i mean listen um you and i are very much of the same generation mr brown and i too remember jimmy grieves as a player rather than the saints and grievous thing but i've got one over on you you may have met him but i've got his autograph have you oh well you're a lucky man my sons would love to have his autograph but uh my condolences to his family absolutely my condolences yeah well mr brown we've said it earlier on the program i said again more power to your elbow on this on this campaign to get these vaccines out to the third world uh we can't do it soon enough thanks for your time i'll try my best thank you thank you you

Channel: Good Morning Britain

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Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic

Id: ieJplO6TU94

Length: 12min 41sec (761 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 20 2021