Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 16 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the First Minister’s COVID-19 Update on 1 February 2022, what action it is taking to extend "the protection of vaccination to all countries as quickly as possible".
The Scottish Government recognises that COVID-19 is an unprecedented global crisis, leaving no part of the world unaffected. Although Scotland is not a member of the COVAX scheme, we will continue engaging with the UK Government on that matter. On 8 December, the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister to urge the UK government to end its opposition at the World Trade Organisation and to join over 100 countries who are now supportive of a temporary Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights waiver.
We have also provided international development support to our partner countries to support their COVID-19 responses, including vaccine preparedness.
In December 2020 we provided international development funding to support vaccine preparedness and delivery, including £2M to UNICEF in 2020 to help vaccine distribution, roll-out and online healthcare education in our partner countries.
In September 2021, we provided £250,000 from our international development fund to leverage the provision to our partner countries of £11.2 million worth of PPE – our single biggest ever donation – to aid COVID responses as part of our strategic response.
In February 2022 we provided £1.5m to UNICEF to support equal access to COVID-19 vaccines in our partner countries. The funds will support vaccination programmes in Rwanda, Zambia and Malawi, their provision of safe oxygen supplies, and help the agency deliver equipment, resources and technical support in response to the pandemic.