Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to vaccines in the global south.

Increasing equitable access to vaccines in the Global South, is the core goal of the UK’s support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Our £1.44 billion of support to Gavi between 2016-2020 has reached 1.4 million individuals in 68 of the world’s poorest countries, saving their lives from vaccine-preventable diseases. Thanks to Gavi, coverage has risen substantially across these countries to 81%, a 22-percentage point increase from 2000. The UK’s commitment to Gavi is also central to our work to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by 2030.

The UK is proud to be hosting the Gavi Replenishment Conference on 3-4th June, to secure Gavi the funds it needs to immunise 300 million more children and save at least 7 million lives between 2021 and 2025.

Gavi’s strategy for the next strategic period is focused on ‘leaving no one behind with immunisation’. Gavi’s next strategic period is critically important for the UK as we work together to improve intra-country equity and coverage of immunisation at a subnational level.