Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help strengthen and secure vaccine production in the UK.

The Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) continues to work to strengthen UK resilience for the COVID-19 response and potential future health emergencies. The VTF has invested over £380 million to secure and scale up the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities to respond to the pandemic and is actively engaging with market participants to seek to further strengthen our domestic capabilities and capacity in vaccines.

In the Autumn Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a further £354 million for UK life sciences manufacturing. This includes funding to increase the UK’s health emergency responsiveness and capability in vaccine production. Areas of focus will include mRNA capability following the success of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, and investments which will strengthen the resilience of the UK’s vaccine supply chains.