On Friday 14th August, the government announced that it had secured early access to 90 million doses of two promising vaccine candidates.
Support and infrastructure will be provided to Novavax in running a Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK, with plans to manufacture their vaccine in the UK with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies.
The government will also co-fund a global clinical trial with the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson securing 30 million doses from them. It will establish how effective their vaccine could be in providing long-term immunity against Covid-19.
This means that the UK has now secured access to six different vaccine candidates as part of the government’s strategy to build a portfolio of promising new vaccines should any be found to be safe and effective. As a result, Britons will receive early access to 90 million doses of two Covid-19 vaccine candidates should they prove safe and effective.
Commenting about the procurement, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said, “The Government’s strategy to build a portfolio of promising vaccine candidates will ensure we have the best chance possible of finding one that works.
“Today’s agreements will not only benefit people in the UK but will ensure fair and equitable access of a vaccine around the world, potentially protecting hundreds of millions of lives.
“While we are doing everything we can to ensure the British people get access to a successful vaccine as soon as possible, nobody is safe until we are all safe so global cooperation is absolutely critical if we are to defeat this virus once and for all.”
The UK has now secured access to six different candidates, across four different vaccine types, reflecting the Government’s strategy to ensure the UK has a supply of vaccines should any of these prove safe and effective. These include the University of Oxford’s vaccine being developed with AstraZeneca, as well as agreements with the BioNTech/Pfizer alliance, Valneva and GSK/Sanofi Pasteur.
In addition, a deal with AstraZeneca will provide the UK with access to treatments containing Covid-19 neutralising antibodies to protect those who cannot receive vaccines, such as cancer and immunocompromised patients.
The UK is actively working with the vaccine alliance GAVI, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organisation and a group of other countries to help buy vaccines as well as to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines to low-income countries.
