Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting a temporary patent waiver for covid-19 vaccines to ensure developing countries have equitable access to vaccine supply.

The waiver proposed at the World Trade Organisation goes beyond patents and vaccines, encompassing most intellectual property on all COVID-19-related products and technologies with no geographical or duration limits.

While HM Government remains open to initiatives that will help with equitable vaccine distribution and their prompt administration, there is no evidence that waiving intellectual property protections would advance this objective. Rather, it would dismantle the framework which has and will continue to develop Covid-19 products, like vaccines, which are positively contributing to the global pandemic response, enabling vaccination of key workers like seafarers and medical staff both domestically and internationally.