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Approval of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine: Foreign Secretary's statement

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab gave a statement on the approval of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.

• From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and The Rt Hon Dominic Raab
• Published: 30 December 2020

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

A global pandemic requires global solutions. The UK and its scientific expertise is a key part of the international fight against coronavirus and thanks to hard work at Oxford University and AstraZeneca, the world is one step closer to defeating it. This month I visited a health clinic in India where this vaccine will be administered.

As the biggest country donor this year to both CEPI and to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, we are also leading the way in making sure vaccines will be accessible to developing countries.

Background

• at the UK hosted Global Vaccine Summit in June 2020, AstraZeneca committed that 300 million doses of the Oxford University vaccine candidate would be made available to the COVAX facility. The UK has committed up to £548 million to the AMC which will go towards helping developing countries access vaccines, including the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine
• AstraZeneca has also announced a licencing agreement for the Serum Institute India (SII) to produce 1 billion doses of the vaccine candidate for low- and middle-income countries
• AstraZeneca is working with governments, multilateral organisations and collaborators around the world to ensure broad and equitable access to the vaccine at no profit for the duration of the pandemic

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Published 30 December 2020