Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how the Credit Facility for Access to Medicines is contributing to efforts to tackle covid-19 by making treatments and vaccines affordable.

The UK is at the forefront of efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. At the G20 last month, the Prime Minister called on all governments to work together to develop a vaccine as quickly as possible and make it globally available.

MedAccess, initially called the Credit Facility for Access to Medicines, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDC, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, which in turn is owned and funded by DFID. MedAccess provides ‘volume guarantees’ to manufacturers to stimulate production and increase the availability and affordability of medical supplies in developing country markets across Africa and Asia. It has a track record of success with viral testing kits to combat HIV and insecticide treated bednets to combat malaria. MedAccess is in discussions with UN agencies and manufacturers to establish whether it can provide financial guarantees to increase production and enable more rapid procurement of much needed medical supplies at affordable prices to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in low- and middle-income countries.