Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with the World Trade Organisation on the development of intellectual property waiver agreements to facilitate the mass production of coronavirus vaccines.

The UK has engaged regularly in debates at the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council and other international institutions to promote affordable and equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, including in developing countries. As part of this, the UK has encouraged evidence-based discussions between WTO members to find real solutions to the issues at hand within the multilateral intellectual property framework.