Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Minister for Asia's oral contribution of 25 January 2022, what the basis is for his statement that there is no evidence that the intellectual property rights waiver would help to save lives.

The UK Government is working to ensure developing countries can access COVID-19 vaccines. Our significant early commitment to COVAX has already helped to deliver more than 1 billion doses to developing countries. The UK has delivered over 30 million doses to countries in need already and we are managing our vaccine supply so that all vaccines are either used as quickly as possible in our domestic programme or shared internationally. The UK Government has not seen evidence that intellectual property is a barrier to the production or supply of COVID-19 goods, including vaccines. Whilst we recognise and share concerns regarding the lack of access to vaccines in parts of the world, we must focus on the real challenges to vaccine equity. These include: wider manufacturing and supply constraints; supply chain issues like export restrictions; pressure on health systems; and vaccine confidence. We will continue to work to overcome these challenges. Waiving intellectual property rights will not help. We will continue to promote voluntary licensing and technology transfer partnerships which are making a real difference to vaccine production.