Flawed decision to drop Valvena

OMICRON is now here in Scotland. And 100 million doses of a Scottish-made vaccine, Valvena, which would have been effective in fighting this dangerous new variant, was cancelled by the UK Government just two months ago.

Current vaccines, such as Astrazeneca, target the protein spikes, which are the parts of the virus that mutate. Valneva, by contrast, introduces a whole neutralised Covid virus into the body, not just the spike proteins, giving a broader immune response by increasing the memory cells that recognise all parts of the virus, should infection occur.

A year ago, former vaccine head Kate Bingham had ordered 100 million doses of Valneva vaccines, recognising its potential to provide a better immune response against future variants. The UK Government then cancelled the order, citing breach of contract, which Valneva denies. She called the abrupt cancellation inexplicable. Professor Adam Finn of JCVI is among several scientists urging the UK to reconsider Valneva. He said we need more than one vaccine option to deal with “an unpredictable, dangerous variant” like Omicron.

One can’t help but suspect that the UK Government’s refusal to use Valneva was because of its Scottish/french origins. Scotland is used to being dissed by Westminster, as we saw in the decision not to develop the shovelready Aberdeenshire carbon capture project. Only by ending an unequal Union that has served us so badly will we be able to make decisions that finally benefit Scotland.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.