Concerned about the UK’s capacity to manufacture vaccines for future biological threats, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has written to senior government minister, Pat McFadden MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, setting out recommendations including the formation of a 'peacetime vaccines taskforce' and the appointment of a Chief Vaccines Officer.
The committee has been taking evidence on the UK's Covid-19 vaccine development and future pandemic preparedness. It said that while the response of the UK’s biomedical sector was “inspiring”, there were concerns that such a response might not be repeatable.
“There is no guarantee that we would be able to do this for the next pandemic. Indeed, our witnesses raised troubling concerns about our capacity to manufacture vaccines for future biological threats,” said the letter, signed by committee chair Baroness Brown of Cambridge.
Highlighting that the success of the Covid vaccine development was somewhat driven by “a good deal of fortune” the letter went on: “The headline message is the UK must have a resilient, diversified domestic vaccine manufacturing sector, from research through to clinical trials and large-scale manufacturing. This is a critically important sovereign capability for security against the next pandemic.”
The committee used the letter to set out four key recommendations. These include keeping the UK’s vaccine R&D manufacturing sector active to ensure that skilled teams and supply chains are ready to scale up. This could be done by creating a 'peacetime vaccines taskforce' and the appointment of a Chief Vaccines Officer, it said, who could act as a clear point of coordination and contact for the vaccines sector.
Other recommendations include regular updates on the UK Biological Security Strategy’s work; support for a portfolio of different vaccine technologies to diversify supplies; and longer-term funding of university-based research facilities.
The letter highlighted the evidence from Patrick Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation who told the committee in one of its sessions “You need facilities that are being used, so we need to make sure that we have a vibrant vaccine sector the UK.”
The committee has called for a response to its letter by the 5th February.
Meanwhile, the UK government has agreed a contract for more than 5 million doses of human H5 influenza vaccine to boost the country’s resilience to possible H5 influenza pandemic. The vaccine, based on the H5 avian influenza virus is being produced by CSL Seqirus. While the H5 avian influenza virus impacts birds, there are concerns that it could move into the human population.
Further reading:
• Genomics key to pandemic early warning system
• UK government partners with BioNTech to provide mRNA cancer therapies
• Vaccines urgently needed for these 17 pathogens says WHO
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