To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help increase global immunisation rates.
Answered on
22 April 2025
The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025, supporting Gavi to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases. Since 2000, Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children, saving over 18 million lives. Furthermore the UK supports polio eradication and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Since 1995, we have contributed £1.4 billion, reducing polio cases by over 99 per cent and limiting endemic countries to Pakistan and Afghanistan. GPEI's efforts have enabled over 20 million people to walk who might have been paralysed by polio.