Rolling off production line, Scottish vaccine that’s the safest in the world
First of 60 million doses – and it’ll target any known variant
THE first batch of the Scottish-made Covid vaccine – hailed the safest in the world – has rolled off production lines.
Scientists at Valneva have produced thousands of doses at the company’s labs in Livingston, West Lothian. They were shipped to Sweden for bottling and labelling earlier this month.
Now, our exclusive pictures show the first vials coming off the production line.
It is welcome news for many, especially as tensions continue to mount between the UK and the European Union over vaccine allocation.
The Valneva team say the jab will be highly effective against Covid and more infectious variants, and expect it to be approved by UK medicine regulator the MHRA as early as July. The first 60 million doses of the vaccine, which
‘On track to produce 200 million doses or more every year’
has been secured by the UK Government for £400 million, will be available by September.
The scientists say they have made a vaccine which, unlike the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna jabs, uses real but inactivated coronavirus to trigger an immune response.
The technology is based on a tried-and-tested vaccine ‘template’ which uses an inactivated ‘seed virus’ to trigger an immune response.
Experts believe they can swap the original ‘seed virus’ to create vaccines that specifically target each variant, including the now-dominant Kent variant, and the South African strain.
The method is used in a number of the company’s other successful vaccines, meaning the researchers are confident their coronavirus jab is safe to give to children and pregnant women.
It is hoped Valneva’s vaccine will become a long-term solution because it is relatively cheap and easily stored and transported.
Once the liquid is made in Scotland, it is sent to Valneva’s factory in Sweden to be packaged and labelled. The first vials were completed on March 8.
On Thursday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that Scotland’s vaccine rollout would be delayed due to supply issues of the AstraZeneca jab. She said the country would have half a million fewer vaccine doses than expected next month because of the delays.
Last week, the UK found itself in a vaccine tug of war, as European chiefs suggested they could ban exports of jabs manufactured in the EU from being sent to the UK.
The EU’s rollout has been far slower than the UK’s as they have not decided to approve the jabs on an emergency basis, meaning only a tenth of the population has had a jab. Some 25 million Britons have.
Responding to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s threat to supply, a spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I don’t think talk of blocking vaccine exports helps anyone.
‘We are all in this together, not as one country or not as one continent but globally.’
Last night, Valneva’s chief financial officer David Lawrence said the firm would be making hundreds of millions of extra doses of the vaccine to distribute globally.
Regarding the first vials coming off the production line, he said: ‘First commercial production from our sites in Livingston and Solna, Sweden, is a major achievement for Valneva.
‘With clinical data anticipated in April, if positive we will begin phase three studies immediately after.
‘This timeline means we are on track to scale up to produce 200 million doses or more per annum in 2022.’ Amid the supply concerns, Boris Johnson has called for a ramping up of the production of UK vaccines.
The Prime Minister visited Livingston in January to thank Valneva staff for their ‘fantastic work’, and was seen dispensing vaccine into a sample bottle.
As well as the 60 million doses already secured by the UK, Ministers have taken up the offer of another 40 million of the jabs, due to be delivered next year.