Covid-19 Update

Baroness Sugg Excerpts

Thursday 13th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord. I am sure that many of the issues that he raises will be part of the inquiry, but it will be up to the inquiry to determine its terms of reference, the scope of requests for evidence and who to call for evidence. We are clear that it will be a thorough examination, so I am sure the issues that the noble Lord talks about will be considered.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

I congratulate the Government, the Vaccine Taskforce and, of course, the NHS on the amazing vaccine rollout in the UK, but as we know, in a global pandemic nowhere is safe until everywhere is safe. Yesterday, analysis from UNICEF showed that we could share 20% of our doses with countries less fortunate than ourselves and still vaccinate all adults in the UK by July. The Prime Minister committed three months ago to share our excess doses. My noble friend referred to our contribution to COVAX, which was made seven months ago. Time is of the essence and we need to start sharing doses now. When will our excess doses start to be shared? Will it be just signing over the supply or an additional financial contribution?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank my noble friend. She is right to keep the pressure on us to do this. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the UK will share the majority of any future surplus Covid vaccines from our supply with the COVAX pool when they are available, and that remains our commitment. We have been a leading donor to COVAX. At the virtual G7 leaders meeting in February we managed to encourage donors to commit a further $4.3 billion. This will be an important part of the discussions at the G7 summit that is coming up because we want to make sure that we have global access to vaccines, and that the people my noble friend rightly raises who need our help get it.