Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the announcement by the CEO of Serum Institute in India, Adar Poonawalla, that it will halve production of covid-19 vaccines.

The UK is committed to help bring the acute phase of the pandemic to an end as soon as possible and strongly supports the COVAX Facility as a key mechanism to deliver this. As of 17 December, over 738 million have been delivered by COVAX to 144 participants. COVAX continues to actively work to diversify supply bases and finalise new deals to manage ongoing risks and uncertainty. India, along with several other countries, will continue play a vital role in helping to meet international targets for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in 2022.