Vaccine Development and Evaluation 2023-07-11
2023-07-11
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
The question arises in the context of establishing a vaccine development and evaluation centre.
What steps his Department is taking to create a vaccine development and evaluation centre.
The vaccine development and evaluation centre, backed by £65 million for state-of-the-art facilities, at the Porton Down site has been operational since early last year. It supported the autumn vaccine roll-out and the spring vaccine roll-out earlier this year.
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Assessment & feedback
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The question comes in the context of growing public concern and mounting clinical and scientific evidence about mRNA vaccines, and the need for a broad portfolio of vaccines.
In November 2021, Dame Kate Bingham rightly called the decision to withdraw support for the Valneva whole virus vaccine “inexplicable” because a broad portfolio of vaccines is important as we move forward against future variants. The British Society for Immunology states that there is an urgent need for second and third-generation covid vaccines, including universal mucosal vaccines with longer-lasting protective immunity. With growing public concern and mounting clinical and scientific evidence of vaccine injury from mRNA, why is the UK not seeking to harness the power of all technologies instead of establishing an inexplicable exclusive relationship with Moderna?
I confirm to the hon. Gentleman that, in the recent spring campaign, we deployed four approved vaccines—Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax and Sanofi-GSK—as part of our roll-out. We are using a range of vaccines to protect us from the pandemic.
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Assessment & feedback
The specific question about the Valneva whole virus vaccine and the exclusive relationship with Moderna was not directly addressed.
Response accuracy