International Vaccine Programmes: Funding

Lord Browne of Ladyton Excerpts

Tuesday 17th June 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Browne of Ladyton]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to maintain funding for international vaccine programmes, such as GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK has long been a strong supporter of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategy covering 2021-25, and we have provided over £5 billion since 2000. This has enabled Gavi to vaccinate over 1 billion children and save 18 million lives. The outcomes of the spending review are being used to inform how the official development assistance budget will be used. The Foreign Secretary and I look forward to attending Gavi’s replenishment summit on 25 June.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, often what we categorise only as aid is also a form of national security spending. In the case of biosecurity, this is reinforced by the fact that the national risk register identifies pandemics as the greatest risk we face in the UK today, and the strategic defence review identifies engineering biology and new pathogens as a clear and present risk. Against that backdrop and the United States’ proposed defunding of Gavi, would my noble friend the Minister agree that renewing our support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, would not only be a form of philanthropy but a pragmatic investment in our national security?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My noble friend put that incredibly well. This is about security. I would not call it philanthropy; I would call it a partnership with countries that benefit from the ability of Gavi to vaccinate at scale and with value for money. I point out that countries do not just stay as a recipient of Gavi vaccines but progress to become donors to Gavi—look at India and Indonesia—such is the success of this approach.