Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure donated surplus vaccine doses are shared with low-income countries with sufficient time before expiry.

The UK supply chain is carefully managed to ensure that vaccine doses are used and have impact as quickly as possible, either in the UK or elsewhere.

For all bilateral donations we have sought assurances that recipients have the capacity to roll-out the quantity of doses in line with the national vaccination programmes ahead of their expiry date. For donations through COVAX, the UK is working closely with COVAX and its international partners, such as UNICEF, to allocate vaccines according to need, facilitate the rapid delivery of doses and maximise the shelf life available to recipients.