Covid-19: Vaccine Production Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lord Alton of Liverpool
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Covid-19: Vaccine Production
Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Callanan (Con)
We have donated £548 million to the COVAX initiative, which has been match funded to a total of $1 billion.
Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)
My Lords, given the government statement at the TRIPS council meeting on 9 June that suggested that
“vaccines for new pandemics will simply not be developed”
if there is action on intellectual property, what role does the Minister consider the £100 billion in taxpayer subsidies played in Covid-19 vaccine development? Will he confirm that, apart from the role of big pharma, to which he has referred, 97% of the costs of developing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine were covered by public funds?
Lord Callanan (Con)
A strong IP system is crucial in supporting the rapid development of new vaccines, but the noble Lord is right: we contributed extensive taxpayer funds to supporting it.