Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' statement on 9 July that "the greatest threat we face now is not the [COVID-19] virus itself, rather it is the lack of leadership and solidarity at the global and national levels".

The UK takes a strong global leadership role in collaborating with other countries in efforts towards the development and distribution of a successful vaccine for COVID-19 and we encourage other countries to do the same.

COVAX is an international initiative to support the discovery, manufacture and fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for one billion people by the end of 2021.

The UK is actively engaging with the World Health Organisation, which has an important role to play in leading the global health response. The UK is committed to supporting the WHO as well as multilateral and international partners, such as Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.