Ms Louise Finan:

Good morning to the committee members; it is great to see them all again. I thank the committee for endorsing the cause of the people's alliance for vaccine equity. We were delighted to see the committee's recent report and support its calls.

The key point to note is that, globally, over 70% of the healthcare workforce are women. A fact that is quite shocking is those women often face violence in performing their roles and there is a risk that is amplified over access to the finite resources of a Covid-19 vaccine. The safety and security of those delivering Covid-19 vaccines must also be of utmost priority. Other health crises have shown that delivery and facilitation of vaccines will depend disproportionately on the unpaid labour of women and girls and this will impact especially on the poorest and those in rural areas. We know providing equitable access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines in low and middle-income countries will be a catastrophic moral failure if we do not do it. It will impede progress towards ending this pandemic. It will compound and deepen the setback to girls' and women's rights, leaving them further behind. We are part of a network of organisations calling for equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. We strongly endorse the calls this committee has made and will happily provide any further information.