Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Science and Technology: International Development

Tuesday 19 January 2021 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • UK scientific advances funded by the UK have helped reduce extreme poverty and increase life expectancy in developing countries.
  • The Minister thanked Andrew Murrison for his question on vaccine distribution and COVAX.
  • The UK is supporting equitable access to vaccines through funding for COVAX.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Andrew Murrison Con South West Wiltshire
Foreign Affairs Science & Technology
Context

The question arises from the recognition that UK-funded scientific advancements have significantly contributed to reducing poverty, improving child mortality rates, and increasing life expectancy globally.

Question

What steps he is taking to ensure UK science and technology plays a role in international development. Scientific advances funded by the UK have helped drive reductions in extreme poverty, declines in childhood mortality and increases in life expectancy across the developing world.

Answer from Nigel Adams

Scientific advances funded by the UK have helped drive reductions in extreme poverty, declines in childhood mortality and increases in life expectancy across the developing world. Our investments, including in affordable rapid diagnostic tests for covid-19 and the world's first child-friendly antimalarial drug, are delivering benefit to hundreds of millions. We will continue to leverage UK and global scientific excellence and invest in cutting-edge technology and research to provide solutions to critical development challenges.

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Q2 Andrew Murrison Con South West Wiltshire
NHS Foreign Affairs
Context

The context involves the successful vaccine rollout in the UK, with a particular focus on the potential of the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in developing nations. There is also recognition that developing countries need robust healthcare infrastructure to effectively roll out vaccines.

Question

Will the Minister say at what point we will pass vaccines that we have ordered that greatly surpass the need of our population to COVAX? Does he agree that it is vital that, in advance of that, we do everything in our power to develop healthcare infrastructure in developing countries, without which a credible vaccine roll-out is just not possible?

Answer from Nigel Adams

I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. I agree that we should be incredibly proud of the work that we have done with regard to the vaccine. I have had meetings with my Philippine counterparts on vaccines, alongside AstraZeneca. We are supporting equitable access through our funding for the COVAX facility. We are one of the largest donors to the COVAX advance market commitment to support access for 92 developing countries; we have committed £548 million. COVAX's partners, which include Gavi, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, have huge experience in supporting developing country immunisation systems and the programming of immunisation. We expect the initial roll-out to COVAX AMC countries to start in the first quarter of this year.

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