Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken since November 2020 to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for those living in the global south.

The UK is committed to rapid, equitable access to safe and effective vaccines. The UK has committed £548 million to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment (AMC), which is the international initiative to support global equitable access to vaccines. Through match funding, this commitment encouraged other donors to commit $1 billion by the end of 2020, and will contribute to the supply of at least 1.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 for up to 92 countries.

The UK is also working closely with international partners such as Gavi, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and UNICEF to support COVAX's preparations for vaccine rollout in countries in the global south. We welcome COVAX's recent agreement for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine candidate, set to begin by the end of February.