Boris Johnson’s global vaccine push as he revealed the birth of his son helped him fight COVID-19
Boris Johnson will hold a virtual meeting online, and demand countries around the world pull together to pool both their cash and their top scientists in the race to find a vaccine.
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Boris Johnson says the impending birth of his new baby son Wilfred kept him going during the darkest hours in his battle with coronavirus.
The British Prime Minister has revealed he was determined to keep fighting when he went into intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
It comes as the UK was pushing to build a $A14 billion war chest for a coronavirus vaccine, joining forces with Canada, France and Germany to pledge cash to a global fund.
Mr Johnson has been back at work for a week and will host a Coronavirus Global Response International Pledging Conference late on Monday Australian time.
The virtual meeting will demand countries around the world pull together to pool both their cash and their top scientists in the race to find a vaccine.
Mr Johnson said he never gave up when he was in hospital.
“I just refused to let myself think down those lines,” he said.
When asked by The Sun if he was thinking about his son, who was born last week, while he was in hospital, Mr Johnson said: “Well, yes, of course. We’ve all got a lot to live for, a lot to do, and I won’t hide it from you, I was thinking about that yes.
“I suppose there was some terrible, as I say, some natural buoyancy or refusal to give in or harbour negative thoughts. I never really thought that I wouldn’t come back from it. It was more frustration.”
Mr Johnson was released from hospital on Easter Sunday - and 17 days later his fiancee Carrie Symonds gave birth to their son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas.
The boy was the first child for Ms Symonds, 32, and the six child for Mr Johnson, 55.
When asked about his new baby son, Mr Johnson replied: “I’m thrilled.”
Mr Johnson spent three days in intensive care and has said it was 50-50 about whether he would survive.
Both he and Ms Symonds caught the virus, with claims that Westminster became a hotspot for the bug after Health Minister Nadine Dorries succumbed.
Mr Johnson’s personal battle has fired up his determination to beat the disease across the globe.
He was expected to plead with world leaders on Monday to work together, urging them: “To win this battle, we must work together to build an impregnable shield around all our people, and that can only be achieved by developing and mass-producing a vaccine.
“The more we pull together and share our expertise, the faster our scientists will succeed. The race to discover the vaccine to defeat this virus is not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes. It’s humanity against the virus – we are in this together, and together we will prevail.”
The baby joy for Britain’s top political couple comes as the UK plans to restart IVF services across the country that had been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The services will be able to kick off again from May 11, as the nation inches towards a new normal.
A lockdown that started on March 23 looks set to continue at least until the end of May.
The nation has passed the peak of infections and the R rate – the pace at which the virus was spreading has dropped below 1, which gives hope that it may be able to get controlled.
However, the death toll continues to climb despite the green shoots.
There were another 621 deaths recorded in the latest daily figures, with the total death toll hitting 28,131.
That total was just 135 fewer deaths than in Italy, which had been the initial centre of Europe’s outbreak.
China and the United States were not taking part in the summit with Mr Johnson as they both searched for their own solution.
There are fears that China would hoard vaccines for themselves and their allies if they were the first to develop a vaccine.
Tobias Ellwood, a British MP told the UK Telegraph: “The prestige and economic power that accompanies procurement of a vaccine can be compared to landing a man on the moon and winning the space race.”
There are more than 100 vaccines around the world being developed to fight coronavirus as scientists cram years of research into weeks and months.
An Oxford University vaccine, which was already in development for five years for another virus, was one of the frontrunners.
The vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 has already been signed up for mass production with leading pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
It is also being tested at the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, Victoria.
Originally published as Boris Johnson’s global vaccine push as he revealed the birth of his son helped him fight COVID-19