Company to help boost vaccination production

A deal has been agreed for the North East to support the manufacturing of up to 60million doses of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine in the UK.

Pharmaceutical giantGlaxo Smith Kline(GSK) will provide “fill and finish” manufacturing capacity at its Barnard Castle facility, beginning as early as May.

Boris Johnson said the deal b et weenGSK, Nova vax and the UK Government vaccines task force will“further boost our vaccine rollout”.

The “fill and finish” is the completion stage of vaccine manufacturing, preparing vials of the final vaccine and packaging them for distribution and use.

The GSK site at Barnard Castle is a specialised facility in GSK’s global manufacturing network which supports production of GSK pharmaceutical and vaccine products.

The UK Government has secured 60million doses of the vaccine under an advance purchase agreement with Novavax.

The protein antigen component of NVX-CoV2373 is also produced in the North East by Novavax’s manufacturing partner, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, at their site in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “This is terrific news for County Durham and means the North East will be playing a crucial role in the largest vaccination programme in our history.”Earlier this month, the company behind the Novavax jab announced it is 86% effective against the Kent variant and 96% effective in preventing cases caused by the original strain of the coronavirus.

According to results of phase three trial in the UK, the jab offers 100% protection against severe disease.