Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, in the context of the EU dropping its blanket ban on the EU TRIPS waiver, whether she has plans for the UK to do the same; what assessment she has made of the impact of the UK's opposition to the TRIPS waiver on the reputation of the UK; and what steps her Department plans to take to facilitate global vaccine production in place of a TRIPS waiver.

The UK has engaged constructively in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver debate and will continue to do so when presented with further formal text proposals. This has not yet happened. HM Government remains open to initiatives that could help with equitable vaccine distribution and their prompt administration, but there is no evidence that waiving intellectual property protections would advance this objective. Instead, 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.