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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to help support proactive and predictive immunology research into second and third generation covid-19 vaccinations.

UKRI will be committing at least £21m in 2023 to support major new research consortia addressing key challenges to underpin development of second and third generation COVID-19 vaccinations. These consortia will provide sustained funding to address key issues in understanding viral evolution, future variant risks, immune responses to infection and vaccination and how to drive sustained, mucosal immune responses. The consortia will be multidisciplinary and cross-institutional, will be supported for 5 years and are encouraged to engage with industry partners.