UK Vaccine Taskforce: Government against COVID-19 ^{Non-funding Support}

Entity: UK Vaccine Taskforce

Category: non-funding support

Description: The government has set up a Vaccines Taskforce to co-ordinate the efforts of government, academia and industry towards a single goal: to accelerate the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Led by Sir Patrick and Professor Jonathan van Tam, it comprises representatives from government, industry, academia and regulators. Members include Government Life Sciences Champion Sir John Bell, as well as AstraZeneca, and the Wellcome Trust. The taskforce will support progress across all stages of vaccine development, at pace. It will back Britain’s most promising research, positioning the UK as a leader in clinical vaccine testing and manufacturing. The taskforce will co-ordinate with regulators to facilitate trials which are both rapid and well supervised. And it will work with industry in the UK and internationally, so in a position to manufacture vaccines at scale. This will build on the Prime Minister’s announcement last month of a further £210 million for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the international fund to find a vaccine.

Programme Title: UK Vaccine Taskforce

Summary: Vaccine development and 21 research projects to help fight coronavirus. In total, these projects will receive £14 million from a £25 million government research investment and include backing the development of a vaccine at Imperial College London. This follows support for 6 projects, announced last month, including vaccine development led by Professor Sarah Gilbert at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute. This is already carrying out preclinical trials and, with government support, will shortly move into a clinical trial phase.