Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to support, and (2) to expedite, the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines; and what consideration they have given to donating vaccine doses to countries that are unable to afford them.

The UK is committed to rapid equitable access to safe and effective vaccines. We are supporting the COVAX Facility as the best mechanism to deliver this, and have committed £548 million to its work, making the UK one of its largest donors. Through match funding, this commitment has encouraged other donors to commit $1 billion by the end of 2020. Our commitment will contribute to the supply of at least 1.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 for up to 92 countries in the global south.

The UK is also working closely with international partners such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and UNICEF to support COVAX's preparations for vaccine rollout in countries in the global south. We expect deliveries of vaccines to begin by the end of February. It is too early to determine how many doses ordered by the UK will not be needed for domestic use. We are working through multilateral institutions, such as the UN and the G20, and with the WHO and international partners to support vaccine development, manufacturing scale-up, and distribution to meet both domestic and international needs now and in the future.