Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the delivery of covid-19 vaccines via the COVAX facility in Syria are not (a) disrupted and (b) manipulated by the Syrian Government.

The UK provides £548 million globally to the COVAX initiative which enables equitable access to vaccines. The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines were delivered to Syria on 22 April, with 203,000 doses via Damascus and 53,800 doses delivered into north west Syria.

The COVAX initiative is led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which works closely with stakeholders, including development partners to ensure robust governance and programme management to deliver the vaccines to those in need. UNICEF is the designated global supply agency for COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX facility and follow rigorous monitoring and reporting measures. The UK is confident that any risks to COVAX vaccine delivery and aid diversion by the regime and other bad actors are mitigated by the efforts of UNICEF and our partners. As such it is crucial that UN Security Council Resolution 2533 on cross-border aid access into north west Syria is renewed.