Covid-19: Access to Vaccine Debate
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Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
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Covid-19: Access to Vaccine
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford Excerpts(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Sugg (Con)
My Lords, our commitment to global access to Covid-19 medical tools includes supporting voluntary methods of sharing intellectual property and non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements. We think it is right to follow both bilateral deals and the COVAX joint facility to maximise the chances of finding a vaccine.
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Con) [V]
My Lords, I join other noble Lords in congratulating the Government on joining COVAX and for the significant funding commitment announced at UNGA, but obviously this happened after additional optionality was added to the facility to encourage countries such as the UK, which already have advanced domestic vaccine programmes. Is the Minister confident that vaccine candidates can still be affordably manufactured at scale through COVAX if wealthy countries opt out of certain candidates?