Moderna to open jab factory in Britain

JAB maker Moderna plans to open its first vaccine factory in Britain, as it hailed the UK’S “world-class life sciences and research community” which came to the fore during the pandemic.

Moderna, whose Covid-19 MRNA jabs played a key role in vaccinating Britain last year, said it had struck a deal with the Government to establish a vaccine innovation and technology centre in the UK.

The US biotech company is yet to lay out plans for how large the facility will be or where it will be built, although reports have suggested it was considering Oxford, Cambridge or London.

It follows talks between Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive, and Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, in Boston earlier this year.

Moderna, which is also setting up a factory in Canada, said it would use the facility to manufacture MRNA vaccines for Covid and flu. Its work would be in collaboration with the Government. It added that the site would allow a rapid response to future pandemics.

Experts have called for major investment in “pandemic preparedness” to be able to develop and deploy vaccines within 100 days. Moderna said the site would help Britain meet that goal.

Under the deal, which is an agreement in principle and needs a final green light from both sides, Moderna will also be making more investments in research and development in the UK. It is currently working with the National Institute for Health Research on a Covid booster jab that could tackle the omicron variant.

Before the pandemic Britain largely relied on other countries for vaccine production but it is now scaling up capacity. More than £200m of taxpayer cash has been poured into building a mega-vaccine site, the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, which will be able to make 70m jabs in as little as four months. The facility was sold to US company Catalent in April.