Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the continuing emergence of new variants of the Sars Cov-2, if the Government will make it its policy to support the proposed (a) WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver and (b) WHO Covid-19 Technology Access Pool to facilitate collaboration in developing effective tools against those new strains.

The UK is playing a leading role in global efforts towards rapid equitable access to safe and effective vaccines, as well as in identifying new variants through world-leading genomic analysis capability and surveillance systems. Our investment in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations supports ongoing vaccine research and development to respond to an evolving virus.

The UK does not consider waiving intellectual property (IP) rights to be an appropriate course of action in boosting the manufacture of safe and effective vaccines. The IP system has mobilised research and development to deliver new medicines and technologies to detect, prevent, and treat COVID-19. Along with international financing commitments and collaboration, it has facilitated partnerships necessary for rapid scaling-up of production for new safe and effective products. Since the World Health Organisation (WHO) provided initial details on the COVID-19 technology access pool (C-TAP) in October 2020, the UK has engaged industry and the research community. Whilst we welcome the voluntary nature of the pool, we need to avoid a 'one-size fits all' approach from deterring potential participants. We continue to explore how the C-TAP operating model can address this issue.