AstraZeneca

Lord Scriven Excerpts

Thursday 6th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I reassure the noble Lord that the metro mayor was aware of the discussions with AstraZeneca. It is important to remember that AstraZeneca will continue to produce vaccines in Speke. It is not that AstraZeneca has pulled out of there; it is that the new investment has not come there. I have recently been speaking to metro mayors about how we can make sure that the R&D funding is supportive of what metro mayors are trying to achieve.

[Lord Scriven (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister is a little bit complacent because, as he knows, the investment was for future-generation flu vaccines and not for existing vaccines. As the Lords Science and Technology Committee said recently, this raises “troubling concerns” about the UK’s lack of

“capacity to manufacture vaccines for future biological threats”.

What are the Government doing to ensure a portfolio of vaccine technology can be manufactured in the UK and that we are not just relying on mRNA?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord—that is the first time I have been called complacent about vaccines. There is a lot going on: the Moderna investment in a new facility at Harwell; the BioNTech investment; the recent announcement of £60 million by GSK with Oxford; and there is a review of all the vaccine facilities across the country. It is absolutely essential to get this right, as the noble Lord has said, for future pandemic preparedness, as it is a key area. AstraZeneca remains, of course, with its major R&D base in this country, and I will be speaking to it again shortly.