Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have of the decision by the government of Switzerland to pass their contracted doses of the Moderna vaccine to the COVAX scheme; and what plans they have, if any, to do the same.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Continued collective global efforts will be crucial to address vaccine inequities. The UK has worked from the start of the pandemic to support equitable access, helping to establish a COVAX to support both higher- and lower-income countries secure the vaccines they need. We invested approximately £71 million to help COVAX secure early supply deals with manufacturers and donated £548 million to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment to support the procurement of vaccines for lower and middle-income economies, making the UK one of the earliest and largest COVAX donors.
The UK Government through Vaccines Taskforce proactively manages its vaccine supply so that all procured doses are either used rapidly by our domestic programme or shared internationally. This is as per our commitment at the G7 to donate 100 million doses by the end of June 2022, with 30m by the end of 2021.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to withdraw vaccines promised to the COVAX scheme to supply the UK’s vaccine booster programme; and what assessment they have made of the effect of such a step on the COVAX scheme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We have already secured the doses we need for everyone in the UK who requires a booster this Autumn/Winter. The UK has an excellent track record in securing steady supply and delivery of Covid-19 vaccines. We are in regular contact with the vaccine manufacturers and are confident in our vaccine supplies for our domestic vaccination programmes.
Our G7 commitment to share 100m doses to those countries that most need them and to split this 80/20 between COVAX and bilateral donations still stands. We have set out how we will meet 70% of this target and are confident in meeting 30m by the end of 2021 as per our announcement at the G20 on 30 October.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of UK investment in Burundi and its contribution to gainful employment in that country.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
There is no official data available on the level of UK investment in Burundi as data on UK trade with Burundi is not published by the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Boateng (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the balance of trade between Burundi and the UK.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
In 2015 the UK had a trade in goods surplus with Burundi of £1.7 million (Source: HM Revenue and Customs’ Overseas Trade Statistics database).
It is not possible to estimate the trade in services balance between the UK and Burundi as data on UK trade in services with Burundi are not published by the Office for National Statistics.