Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since the 'COVID-19 action plan: G7 Foreign Ministers’ statement' was released in May 2022.

The UK has committed £2.1 billion since 2020 to help countries fight COVID and manage its impacts and we have donated over 85 million vaccine doses, which helped protect medical staff and vulnerable people, when there was a shortage of vaccines. As global vaccine supply now outstrips demand, the UK is supporting low-income countries to vaccinate their high-risk populations through the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership.

Therapeutics and diagnostics are a fundamental part of pandemic response, both for COVID-19 and future health threats. That is why the UK co-chaired, with South Africa, the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Working Group on Therapeutics and Diagnostics and in September, published its report setting out recommendations.

The UK is committed to acting on lessons from COVID-19 to ensure we are better prepared for the next health threat. The UK welcomes the new Financial Intermediary Fund for Pandemic Preparedness and is closely engaging on the development of a Pandemic Instrument to help strengthen international collaboration against future health threats.