COVID-19: Initial doses of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine will be made in Europe - taskforce
Factories in Germany and the Netherlands are set to supply the first batch of the AstraZeneca drug due this year.
Tuesday 8 December 2020 15:30, UK
The initial roll-out of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in Britain will use doses manufactured in Europe, the UK's Vaccine Taskforce has said.
Ian McCubbin, manufacturing lead for the taskforce, said the "vast, vast majority" of the 100 million doses of the drug ordered by the UK from AstraZeneca will be made in the UK.
But the first batches, due to be supplied this year, will not.
Mr McCubbin told reporters: "The initial supply - and it's a little bit of a quirk of the programme - actually comes from the Netherlands and Germany.
"But once that's supplied, which we expect will be all by the end of this year, then the remainder of the supply will be a UK supply chain."
The timetable could be important in minimising the prospect of the vaccines from Europe being held up by disruption at ports following the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December.
The comments from the taskforce come as the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine awaits regulatory approval - and as the rival Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine begins to be rolled out in the UK.
Last month the pharmaceutical industry warned that supplies of medicines, including potential COVID-19 vaccines, could be disrupted if the government fails to reach a Brexit deal for the sector.
Separately, the boss of British chemicals firm Croda - which supplies a key ingredient for the Pfizer vaccine - has said that avoiding such problems would be a "crucial step" in ensuring it is available to millions of people.
It was reported over the weekend that, under UK government contingency plans, tens of millions of vaccine doses could be flown to Britain by military aircraft to avoid such delays.