Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

Developing a vaccine is a complex process that can take many months and has no guarantees of success. We have pledged £250 million to the international effort to find a vaccine – the largest international contribution of any country – and are backing two of the global front-runners in the United Kingdom, at the University of Oxford and Imperial College, London. The Government recently announced £84 million of new funding to support Oxford and Imperial, bringing the total Government investment in these institutions to over £130 million.

The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have recently announced a partnership to support the further development, large-scale manufacture and potential distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine currently being trialled by the University.