Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Hannay of Chiswick (Crossbench). It was answered on Thursday, 21 May 2026.

Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: Ebola Outbreak

Question: My Lords, what progress has been made towards the negotiation of a pandemic convention by the World Health Organization? Does the Minister not agree that some of the characteristics of the draft pandemic convention, on early warning and working together to develop vaccines, are extremely relevant to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda?

Answer: I agree with that, and we are working closely with the WHO. On vaccine development, no vaccine is currently able to be deployed against this particular strain, but work is going on at speed to examine the utilisation of vaccines that have already been developed and tested, and whether they may be effective against this strain. The noble Lord will also understand the complexity and difficulty of distributing and administering vaccine in this context.

Secondary information