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 has taken to ensure that the UK maintains the infrastructure needed to (a) develop second-generation covid-19 vaccines and (b) build its pandemic-readiness resilience.

In order to strengthen UK domestic vaccine capacity, as part of our response to COVID-19 and indeed potential future health emergencies, the Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) is actively working with industry to explore opportunities to build upon the £380 million the Government has already invested in UK vaccine manufacturing infrastructure and skills.

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 specific funding to increase the UK’s responsiveness and ability to manufacture vaccines, in particular mRNA capability following the success of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Funding has also been provided for the VTF to strengthen the resilience of the UK’s vaccine supply chains.