The Liberal Democrats have written to the Prime Minister calling for the UK to begin donating vaccines through the COVAX programme immediately.
The letter, co-signed by all MPs and spearheaded by Layla Moran, echoes calls the party made to join COVAX as part of a ‘parallel rollout’ back in February. With the situation in India now worsening, the urgency of the call has intensified.
It also highlighted how aid cuts are making the global situation worse and called for a number of other proactive measures such as safely accelerating approval processes in regulatory bodies.
In the letter, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Development, Layla Moran MP said : “The UK must do its part and provide as many vaccines as possible to countries that do not have the wealth or the manufacturing capacity to acquire sufficient doses for their populations fast enough.
“The UK Government still does not directly contribute vaccines to COVAX. Other countries, including Norway, have already started their parallel rollouts. This needs to change urgently. Scenes in India remind us that none of us are safe until we are all safe.
“Cuts to the ODA budget this year will have dire consequences for international projects, collaborations and partnerships that are vital in our efforts to defeat the virus, including the sequencing of variants.
“We urge you to act now to help save lives in India and around the world. None of us are safe from coronavirus until we all are.”