Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Commonwealth Secretariat on its potential role in increasing the covid-19 vaccination rate in sub-Saharan Southern Africa.

At the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM) on 16 September 2021, chaired by the Foreign Secretary, member states agreed to continue to work collaboratively with each other and with the Commonwealth Secretariat to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, including supporting timely, equitable and affordable access to COVID 19 vaccines and related health products and technologies.

The Government remains committed to ensuring that people in the poorest countries receive vaccines. We have contributed £548 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Facility, which is ensuring equitable access for 92 low and middle-income countries, 46 of which are in Africa. As of 6 January 2022, COVAX has delivered more than 335 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 44 African COVAX AMC countries. In addition to our financial support to COVAX, the UK has donated 7.9 million surplus doses to 14 African countries.