Vaccines to tackle dangerous variants will be fast-tracked through new labs

VACCINES tweaked to target dangerous Covid variants will be fast-tracked through laboratories to help scientists stay one step ahead of the virus.

- Hanna Geissler

Health Secretary Matt Hancock will today announce a £29.3million investment in Public Health England’s testing facilities to accelerate development of booster jabs.

The cash will help to quadruple the number of blood samples that can be tested weekly to assess the efficacy of promising variant vaccines.

Mr Hancock said: “The UK has proven itself to be a world-class force in the production of Covid19 vaccines, with the Oxford/ AstraZeneca, Novavax and Valneva vaccines all researched, developed or manufactured on British soil.

Threat

“We’ve backed UK science from the very start of this pandemic and this multi-million-pound funding for a state-of-the-art vaccine testing facility at Porton Down will enable us to further future-proof the country from the threat of new variants.

“We are committed to supporting the UK’s flourishing life sciences industry and this announcement is yet another critical way we will build back better to protect the country over the coming months and years.”

The boost for Britain’s defences comes after the UK reported four Covid-19 deaths yesterday, down 76 per cent from 17 on the previous Tuesday.

Some 1,946 new cases were also confirmed, down 28 per cent from 2,685 a week earlier.