Scots vaccine for ALL strains

A COVID vaccine made in Scotland will be able to target any new strain of the virus, its makers say.

Scientists at Valneva believe their life-saving jab will be highly effective against variants, including the aggressive South African strain.

Unlike other jabs available, Valneva uses a ‘seed virus’ for its vaccine from coronavirus grown at its labs in Livingston, West Lothian.

It is then chemically ‘killed’ or inactivated and placed alongside other ingredients in the vaccine.

Inactive particles injected into the body trigger an immune response which helps fight off infection if the patient later comes into contact with active particles.

The company said it can swap the original ‘seed virus’ to create vaccines that specifically target each variant.

Serious concerns have been raised that some jabs may not adequately protect against the South Africa variant. However, Thomas Engelbach, CEO of Valneva said: ‘So far, evidence suggests that the vaccines will still protect against the mutant strains and we expect the same to be true for our vaccine.

‘Our established manufacturing platform is suitable for and can work off any SARS-CoV2 virus strain. At the moment we will not be changing any of the viral seeds.’

Valneva’s vaccine is based on a tried and tested ‘template’ that has been used to treat other killer diseases for more than a decade.

With the template, a different strain of the virus could theoretically be grown in their labs to create a modified vaccine.

A miracle of modern biotech The cheapest, safest vaccine in the WORLD Made on an industrial estate in SCOTLAND

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