The UK’s top scientists and manufacturers have been drafted in to form a new coronavirus task force with the ‘single goal’ of developing a vaccine ‘at pace’, the government has announced.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma told today’s daily press briefing that the group, which will consist of experts from government, industries, academia and regulators, is already up and running.

 A further 21 vaccine research projects have been given the green light by the government, which will receive £14 million in funding. This is in addition to six projects announced last month and a former £250 million pledge to CEPI, the international body researching a vaccine, Mr Sharma said.

It is hoped the extra funding would accelerate efforts to find a treatment for the virus and ensure that, once it has been developed, it could be manufactured at scale.

Mr Sharma said: ‘Just as Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine in the 18th century, we need to apply the best of British scientific endeavour to the search for the coronavirus vaccine.

‘To that end, I can announce today, that the Government has set up a vaccines taskforce to coordinate the efforts of Government, academia, and industry, towards a single goal. To accelerate the development of a coronavirus vaccine.’

The government has already pledged £250 million to CEPI, the international body working to develop a vaccine for Covid-19.

The taskforce will be led by the government’s top scientific advisors, Sir Patrick Vallance and Jonathan Van Tam.

It will support progress across all stages of vaccine development, and at pace, Mr Sharma said. Work will include making sure Britain’s laws and regulations can cope with testing vaccines at speed in a safe way and making sure manufacturers are prepared to put whatever is produced into pass production.

For all the latest news and updates on Coronavirus, click here.

For our Coronavirus live blog click here.

‘It will back Britain’s most promising research, positioning the UK as a leader in clinical vaccine testing and manufacturing. The taskforce will coordinate with regulators to facilitate trials which are both rapid and well supervised’ Mr Sharma added.

However, he warned it would be a ‘colossal undertaking’ which may take many months before progress is made,

‘There are no guarantees but the Government is backing our scientists, betting big to maximise the chance of success.’ he said.

‘We cannot put a date on when we will get a vaccine but we live in a country with a rich history of pioneering science and with the government backing our scientists we have the best chance to do this as quickly as possible.’

Studies in the UK have enrolled 5,500 people in clinical trials to find out if existing medicine can help fight the disease.

Scientists behind vaccine trials in Oxford have already said they are so confident in their attempt, they will manufacture one million doses while their trial is under way and they hope to be ready for September.

But Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific advisor, erred on the side of caution today.

He said the researchers have done ‘a great job to get to where they are’, but the reality is that ‘each single project does not have a high probability of success’.

He added: ‘Everyone goes out with great enthusiasm… but it is never the case we know we have a vaccine that works.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Coronavirus latest news and updates

• Visit our live blog for the latest updates: Coronavirus news live
• Read all new and breaking stories on our Covid-19 news page
• Coronavirus symptoms explained
• Find out the latest on which shops can stay open in a lockdown
• Who needs to go to work, who needs to stay at home and who is classed as a key worker?

Source: Read Full Article