New Delhi (NVI): The United Kingdom has announced an investment of USD 159.80 million (£131 million) to further boost coronavirus vaccine development and manufacturing, the British High Commission said today.
The funding has been announced by the UK to accelerate the construction of the new Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) and to establish a rapid deployment facility for vaccine manufacturing this summer, BHC said in a statement.
The additional funding for the VMIC will ensure it opens in Summer 2021, a full 12 months ahead of schedule, it said.
“The not-for-profit Centre is a key component of the UK’s coronavirus vaccine programme, ensuring that once a vaccine is available it can be produced quickly and in mass quantities. Not only will the VMIC boost the UK’s long-term capacity against future viruses, it will also accelerate the production of vaccines for existing illnesses such as the flu virus,” BHC said in a statement.
While the Centre is being built, the rapid deployment facility will open this summer and will support efforts to ensure a vaccine is widely available as soon as possible.
Apart from that, the UK has separately announced new funding of £84 million for vaccines being developed by the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.
UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “As the biggest contributor to the international coalition to find a vaccine, the UK is leading the global response. Once a breakthrough is made, we need to be ready to manufacture a vaccine by the millions. The new Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre and temporary facility will build ‘fill and finish’ capacity, bringing the UK vaccine programme together from discovery to distribution.”
Jan Thompson, Acting High Commissioner to India, said: “This latest investment reaffirms the UK’s global commitment to fight this pandemic. We will continue to work closely with our international partners, including here in India, to find a vaccine and ensure it is rapidly available at scale. As the Prime Minister has said, the search for a coronavirus vaccine is the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes.”
