Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps is the UK taking to support measures to scale up manufacturing capacity of vaccines in low and middle income countries.

Successful vaccine manufacturing needs commercially viable businesses operating within a well-developed ecosystem of skilled workers, access to innovative technology, effective regulation and functioning markets. The UK is working with international and regional partners, including the African Union, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), international development banks and the private sector to catalyse strategic investments for vaccine manufacturing in low and middle income countries. This includes work to forecast future vaccine markets and procurement options. The UK actively supports the new "Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing" (PAVM) initiative to implement a roadmap for African vaccine manufacturing. We have also provided technical support to develop business cases for vaccine production in South Africa, Senegal and Morocco.