Commons Sense

House of Commons · Written Ministerial Statement

Business Update

20 October 2020 · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Proposed by Alok Sharma Con Reading West

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

View on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Key points

  • The Government is establishing human challenge trials for possible COVID-19 vaccines.
  • The Government is investing 33.6m in a virus characterisation study.
  • 7m is being allocated to Public Health England's laboratories at Porton Down for monitoring vaccine effectiveness.

Issue summary

The Minister is announcing new initiatives by the Vaccine Taskforce to speed up the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine through human challenge trials.

Action requested

The Government is establishing human challenge trials for possible COVID-19 vaccines, investing £33.6m in a virus characterisation study and £19.7m in Public Health England's laboratories at Porton Down to monitor vaccine effectiveness.

Key facts

  • The UK is establishing human challenge trials for possible COVID-19 vaccines.
  • A partnership between Imperial College London, the Royal Free London Hospital’s research unit, and hVIVO will conduct virus characterisation studies with £33.6m in funding.
  • Studies are expected to start in January 2021 with results by May 2021.
  • Public Health England is receiving £19.7m to expand state-of-the-art laboratories at Porton Down for vaccine testing.
  • Testing will support the development and regulatory approval of vaccine candidates.
▸ Assessment & feedback
Summary accuracy