Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the effect on global equality of access to the covid-19 vaccines in the event that the proposed WTO TRIPS Waiver is not adopted.

The UK is committed to rapid equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, and is playing a leading role in financing the global effort, and identifying solutions that ensure affordable access for all.

The UK Government does not consider waiving intellectual property (IP) rights to be an appropriate course of action in boosting the manufacturing of safe, effective, and quality vaccines. The existing intellectual property framework has mobilised research and development to deliver a host of new medicines and technologies to detect, treat, and defend against COVID-19. The incentives and access mechanisms provided by the IP framework have been integral to this success, without which we would not have seen the impressive surge of research and development, and the unprecedented scaling up of production.