Covid-19: Vaccination in Developing Countries

Debate between Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Thursday 2nd December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

The noble Lord will appreciate that I cannot commit the Government to all those things, but I can tell him a bit about some of the things we are doing, which I hope will reassure him a little. He will also understand that this is not necessarily my specialist subject so I ask him to bear with me. We have deployed UK emergency medical teams to 11 African countries to provide training and clinical advice. We have also deployed a UK public health rapid support team to provide specialist technical assistance to public health agencies in Nigeria, the Gambia, Tunisia and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. We are continuing to provide technical support to build genomic sequencing and country capability through the UK’s new variant assessment platform, including in African countries. We are doing a lot.

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)]

My Lords, when the Government responded last year to our Select Committee’s report on UK relations with sub-Saharan Africa, they stated that

“we are investing up to £20 million in the African Union’s ‘Africa anti-COVID 19 fund’”.

In the light of omicron, can my noble friend update the House on investment in that fund and whether it has been affected in any way by our cuts to overseas development assistance?

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

I am pleased to be able to give my noble friend a good answer: the £20 million contribution to the African Union’s Covid-19 response fund was not affected by the ODA cuts. The first contribution of £5 million was disbursed in July 2020 when the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the African Union agreed an MoU. The remaining £15 million was disbursed in March 2021, so the money was disbursed in full.