Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to stockpile PPE for a future pandemic.
An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability. These clinical countermeasures include personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene consumables, vaccines (including an Advance Purchase Agreement to guarantee access to a pandemic specific influenza vaccine), and therapeutics, such as antivirals. The programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base and is kept under review, building on lessons learned from previous outbreaks.
In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research and development and manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, which will create more than 150 highly skilled jobs and have the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year in the event of a pandemic.