UK buys 90m doses of two other vaccines

BRITAIN is in line to receive 90million doses of promising vaccines for coronavirus.

After a deal which aims to deliver 30million doses of the Oxford University vaccine to the UK by September, the Government has now backed two foreign vaccines.

The new deal sees the UK promised 30million doses of a vaccine developed by Valneva, a French company which is manufacturing it in Livingston, Scotland.

Another 60million doses of a separate vaccine, produced by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech, will be supplied by next year.

Following a row after the US bought up supplies of coronavirus drug remdesivir, other countries are acting fast to secure vaccines which, if proven to work, will be in global demand. The UK now has a stake in three different types of vaccine, including the Oxford vaccine, which uses a weakened chimpanzee virus.

The Valneva vaccine is delivered using an inactivated version of the virus which causes Covid-19 while the Pfizer candidate injects genetic code. Oxford University and Pfizer are seen as global frontrunners in the race for a vaccine, along with Moderna, which has trialled its vaccine in the US, and a vaccine developed by Chinese firm CanSino Biologics.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: ‘The hunt to find a vaccine is a truly global endeavour and we are doing everything we can to ensure the British public get access to a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible.’

Kate Bingham, of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, said yesterday: ‘I think there has been positive progress for a vaccine this year and there is room for optimism. It is an outside possibility but

‘May be ready this year’

the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines may be ready for this year.’

The Government has also signed a deal with AstraZeneca for one million doses in principle of a treatment containing Covid19 neutralising antibodies.

This could protect those who cannot receive vaccines, such as people with cancer. A new NHS Covid-19 vaccine research registry has also been established with the aim of recruiting 500,000 volunteers by October to test new vaccines and treatments.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged those who can sign up ‘to back the national effort... and help find a vaccine as soon as possible’.