To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in discussions with members of the World Trade Organization to facilitate increased production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
My Lords, the UK is proud to be playing a global leading role in the development and distribution of coronavirus vaccines. What is now needed most is the scaling up of existing and new vaccine production to achieve equitable, affordable access for all. We continue to engage actively and constructively at the WTO regarding increasing the production and supply of Covid-19 vaccines.
My Lords, the temporary TRIPS waiver proposed by South Africa and India to the WTO is supported by the US and France, as well as the leaders of the COVAX initiative—Gavi and the WHO—which has proven entire-chain processes that deliver to the last mile. Does the Minister agree that the counter-proposal by the European Commission to encourage voluntary action and reliance on compulsory licences is a red herring, because both options already exist? Millions of people have died while we rely on the good will of big pharma, which has yet again failed the humanity test.
I am afraid that I do not agree with the noble Baroness. We are working with industry, the COVAX Manufacturing Task Force and the ACT-A Vaccine Manufacturing Working Group to champion other routes to scale up capacity and engage on forward supply chain planning in order to accelerate and progress vaccination programmes across the world. We think that is the best way forward.
Baroness Bryan of Partick (Lab) [V]
Ensuring accessible and affordable Covid-19 vaccines across the globe is a human rights duty that requires international co-operation. Can the Minister give details of government support for the WHO Technology Access Pool, and have the Government ensured that the intellectual property in respect of vaccines developed with the support of public funding has been deposited with C-TAP, in order to scale up production in countries that have untapped capacity?
It is not simply a question of scaling up untapped capacity; producing these vaccines is complicated and technically challenging, and we need the support of big pharma to do it. There are few facilities across the world that can produce them properly and we have seen, even in the West, how some batches have gone wrong because of manufacturing problems. However, we are proud to be working with the COVAX initiative. We have helped to raise more than £1 billion through match funding other donors. Combined with our aid, that is helping to distribute 1.8 billion doses across the world.
My Lords, AstraZeneca has been generous in providing vaccines to the world at cost. Do other companies oppose the principle of giving up their intellectual property rights in respect of these vaccines? As there is a humanitarian justification in their allowing the world to so benefit, would there be any merit in naming and shaming such big pharma companies?
It remains the case that we have not seen any convincing evidence that intellectual property is a limiting factor in the production and/or supply of Covid vaccines or other technologies. As the noble Lord points out, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is being made available at cost.
My Lords, first, I congratulate the Government, through my noble friend, on the success of the UK vaccine rollout and the involvement with AstraZeneca, whose vaccine is widely being offered on a no-profit basis, as has been said. While I hope for our continuing commitment in assisting with worldwide protection, can my noble friend confirm that, in any discussions on possible intellectual property waivers, he will ensure that standards of production and vaccine quality will not be prejudiced at all?
I thank my noble friend for his comments and he makes a very good point, the same point that I made earlier. Production of these vaccines is technically complicated, particularly the mRNA vaccines. There are not really any other production facilities outside the West in the property of big pharmaceutical companies that are able to produce them. It is not a question of simply waiving the IP rights and allowing anybody to produce them.
My Lords, paragraph 10 of the G7 communiqué refers to 700 million doses being made available from domestic productions, over half of which have gone to other G7 countries. Uganda, for example, is paying three times as much as the EU and the UK for the AstraZeneca vaccine because of the limit and because it is not using the WHO Technology Access Pool. Will the Government think again and open up access to technology and know-how in order to allow other countries to increase domestic production, so that they pay the same to AstraZeneca as the UK is paying?
I am not sure that the noble Lord’s figures are correct. I will certainly write to him if that is not the case, but my understanding is that the vaccines are being distributed at cost. AstraZeneca already has supply agreements—with the Serum Institute of India, for example, to produce 1 billion doses. We will donate 100 million surplus coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year. We are committed to helping the third world to access the vaccines it needs.
My Lords, as the Minister said, the process of manufacturing vaccines is complex and difficult, as we saw with Johnson & Johnson in America, for example. The fastest and best way to set up large-scale vaccine manufacturing in developing countries is for the rights holders to invest. Will our Government work with IP holders such as AstraZeneca to set up across the world? We do not need to deprive them of their rights. The Oxford/AstraZeneca group intends its vaccine to be for the world; will our Government help it to deliver that?
My noble friend is correct and speaks with great authority on this subject, but the best way forward is voluntary licensing and technology transfer partnerships. They are making a real and positive impact on vaccine delivery, and the UK Government will of course do all we can to facilitate this process.
My Lords, as president of the CBI, I chaired the B7, which fed into the G7. The B7 was attended by Dr Ngozi, the new director-general of the WTO. There was unanimous agreement on the free flow of trade for the manufacture and distribution of vaccines. Do the Government agree that there needs to be unhindered trade for vaccine manufacture and distribution? The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, for example, contains 280 different components, manufactured in 86 different sites across 19 countries. Does the Minister also agree that, although it is good that the UK and US have agreed to supply 600 million surplus doses of vaccines around the world, what is actually needed is for the wealthiest countries in the world to urgently finance and help enable the manufacture and distribution of 11 billion doses, including at the Serum Institute of India, which the Minister just mentioned?