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 help ensuring the equitable distribution of second-generation vaccines across the world.

The UK has played a leading role in supporting global access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines from the outset of the pandemic. The UK is one of the largest donors to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) committing £548 million. Our funding has supported COVAX AMC to deliver over 1.3 billion doses to 87 developing countries. The UK is working with partners, such as COVAX and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), to ensure affordable and effective second generation vaccines will be available as required in low and middle-income countries so the world can respond rapidly to a new variant of concern, or other public health threat. In March, the UK hosted the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit, raising over £1.2 billion - including £160 million from the UK - to develop variant-proof coronavirus vaccines and to develop vaccines against future health threats in 100 days.