Concerns raised about the UK’s ability to manufacture vaccines in a future pandemic

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has written to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to express concerns over the UK's ability to manufacture vaccines in a future pandemic.

• Letter from Baroness Brown of Cambridge to the Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Overview

After hearing evidence in October 2024 from experts who had played prominent roles in developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Chair of the Lords Science and Technology Committee has written to Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Committee's headline message is that the UK must have a resilient, diversified domestic vaccine manufacturing sector, from research through to clinical trials and large-scale manufacturing. This is a critically important sovereign capability for security against the next pandemic. Recent developments raise concerns, and the sector needs renewed focus and government support to ensure that lessons are learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and capacity retained.

The Committee noted that the UK was potentially well-placed to develop a world-leading vaccine research and manufacturing sector, as demonstrated during the pandemic, due to its strengths in bioprocess engineering, early-stage vaccine development from academia, the footprint of large pharma companies, and vaccine-relevant expertise in cell and gene therapies. But there are concerns that it has failed to capitalise on these advantages and the lessons learned from the pandemic while other countries have been increasing their investment.

Key recommendations

Key recommendations within the letter include:

• The UK's vaccine manufacturing and R&D sector must be kept active to ensure skilled teams and supply chains are ready to scale up in a crisis. This could be achieved, it says, by establishing a ‘peacetime vaccines taskforce' which would procure vaccines to address outbreaks across the world and maintain the UK's vaccine production capacity.
• The Government should provide regular updates on the UK Biological Security Strategy's work and conduct regular pandemic preparedness exercises
• The UK must support a portfolio of difference vaccine technologies as there are concerns that the Government may end up being over reliant on one partnership with Moderna and one technology in the messenger RNA platform
• University-based research facilities and partnerships should be funded on a longer-term basis.