Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions she has had with her US counterpart on ensuring that the NHS is able to access (a) a vaccine and (b) treatments for covid-19 at a fair cost in the event that such a vaccine or treatments are developed in the US.

My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade has regular conversations with counterparts from the United States of America, on a wide range of trade-related matters, including the response to COVID-19. To date, the Secretary of State has not had any conversations with her counterparts on vaccines. Work is currently underway to support development of global vaccine candidates, and therapeutics, being led by the Vaccines and Therapeutics Taskforces respectively. This is informing how to engage with US-based developers and will inform my Department’s engagement plans.