Sub-Saharan Africa: Coronavirus

(asked on 21st July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) financial assistance and (b) in-kind support his Department has provided (i) directly and (ii) through COVAX to countries in sub-Saharan Africa since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.


Answered by
James Duddridge Portrait
James Duddridge
This question was answered on 6th September 2021

The UK has played a leading role in supporting global access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines from the outset of the pandemic and stands side by side with our international friends and partners during this deeply challenging time to tackle COVID-19. The UK has provided it's financial support for vaccines through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment. The UK is one of the largest donors to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, having committed £548 million to the initiative which, through match funding, leveraged $1 billion from other donors in 2020. Our early funding has been key to helping COVAX secure deals with manufacturers to supply up to 1.8 billion doses of safe and effective vaccines for up to 92 low- and middle-income countries by early 2022. Over 215 million safe and effective vaccines have now been delivered globally through COVAX to 138 participants. This includes 38.7 million doses for 42 African countries.

The UK is proud that our G7 Presidency secured agreement from leaders to support vaccinating the world in 2022 and to share and finance an additional 1 billion doses over the next year to accelerate vaccine roll-out. This includes a commitment from the UK to share 100 million doses, 80% of which will go to COVAX to enable it to provide further support to countries in need. 9 million of these doses have already begun to be delivered, with 5 million doses shared through COVAX to countries in Africa as selected by the COVAX allocation process. 4 million doses have been donated bilaterally, with Kenya among those countries that have received doses.

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