SDLP Minister and Deputy Leader Nichola Mallon has today written to the Secretary of State for Health after reports that the British Government has purchased 114 million more doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to call for support for communities across the globe in the fight against covid-19.

Ms Mallon said:

“While it is absolutely vital that all of us prepare across these islands to ensure availability and accessibility to vaccination for our citizens, I am concerned that there has been little effort from the British Government to help those communities in other parts of the world who do not have access to, or the protection afforded by, vaccination.

“The warning and advice from medical and scientific advisers has been stark for some time on the importance of world-wide vaccination to reduce the global risk posed by variants. The arrival of the latest variant, Omicron, on these islands is further evidence of the need to act in this area.

“I have today written to the Secretary of State for Health to urge that the British Government acts and works with others to protect our global community from this common enemy. There is a moral and practical imperative to act.”