Coronavirus: Research

(asked on 22nd July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her priorities are for the GAVI board meeting to discuss the COVAX facility.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 1st September 2020

As GAVI's largest donor, the UK is proud of the impressive results GAVI has achieved in vaccinating over 760 million children, and saving 13 million lives since 2000.

As the world grapples with the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK has been clear that the equitable global distribution of a vaccine will be the best defence against it, enable collective recovery, and reduce the risk of repeat outbreaks. We therefore strongly support Gavi using its expertise and experience to lead on accelerating global access to COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility.

The UK was represented by two senior DFID officials at the GAVI Board, where the priority is to ensure that the COVAX Advance Market Commitment delivers timely and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in the poorest countries.

The UK's overarching priority for its £1.65 billion contribution to Gavi from 2021-25 is to maintain and improve routine immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases in the poorest countries.

Reticulating Splines