UK launches new vaccine centre to prepare for 'disease X'

Live viruses will be contained on site at Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre

Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre. Photo: UK Health Security Agency

A high-tech vaccine research centre has been unveiled in the UK to help prepare for, and possibly even prevent, future pandemics.

Live viruses will be kept on site in specialist containment at the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre (VDEC), where researchers will study pathogens that do not yet have a vaccine, or ones for which immunisation could be improved, such as flu, monkeypox or hantavirus.

The complex, in Porton Down, Wiltshire, also aims to help the UK tackle "disease X" to better prepare for yet-to-be identified pathogens with pandemic potential.

Elsewhere, scientists will test emerging Covid-19 vaccines on new variants, target diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and are currently running phase-one clinical trials on a potential first inoculation against Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne virus which is fatal in about 30 per cent of cases.

Prof Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: "What we're trying to do now is capture that really excellent work from Covid and make sure we're using that as we go forward for any new pandemic threats."

Scientists will look at viruses and bacteria they already know pose a threat and evaluate the effectiveness of existing vaccines against them, as well as researching possible upcoming threats in the form of disease X.

Dame Jenny said the term "disease X" was applied where scientists "don't know what the next pathogen will be that will cause a pandemic" but said the UK needed "to be ready".

She added: "We don't know what it is but we can get ready for some virus families.

"We can guess a little bit. We can look at changing the epidemiology of different viruses, we can look at changing climate and start to estimate but we will never know 100 per cent.

"What we try to do here is keep an eye on the ones that we do know. For example, with Covid we are still here testing all the new variants with the vaccines that have been provided to check they are still effective.

"But we are also looking at how quickly we can develop a new test that would be used if a brand new virus popped up somewhere."

The launch comes after the publication of the UKHSA's three-year strategy.

The blueprint outlines how the organisation will prepare for, and respond to, future hazards, including improving health outcomes via vaccines.

Preparedness for a pandemic came under the spotlight this summer as part of the first public hearings in the Covid-19 inquiry.

It heard that previous governments had focused too much on preparing for an influenza pandemic rather than other types of pathogens, with former prime minister David Cameron admitting it was a "mistake".

Ebola outbreak in Uganda - in pictures

Prof Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer of UKHSA, said: "We know that through scientific advancement we could detect and control these spreads before they have the impact that Covid-19 had on our lives.

"It's not easy but we know that if we strengthen surveillance and if we accelerate the development of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics, we could do so much better.

"We need to be prepared for all threats, including those that have not been detected yet."

The VDEC will also bolster the UK's contribution to the 100 Days Mission, a global goal set by the G7 in 2021 with the aim of using a vaccine against any new pandemic threat within 100 days of identification.

Prof Oliver said she was "proud that the UK has embraced this mission" and said the country should be at the "forefront" of advancements.

"It's not about staying where we are, it's about continuing to advance and evolve," she added.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "This new centre cements the UK's global position spearheading pandemic preparedness, vaccine development and scientific discovery.

"Hundreds of the world's leading scientists are already in the centre working on vaccines against potential global health threats to protect the UK and save lives across the world.

"This state-of-the-art complex will also help us deliver on our commitment to produce new vaccines within 100 days of a new threat being identified."

Janet Valentine, executive director for innovation and research policy at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said the Covid-19 pandemic "taught us that through extraordinary interventions and public sacrifice we could slow down the spread of the virus but not stop infection".

"This came with huge economic and personal cost," she added. "But the most important lesson learnt is that the only way to beat a pandemic is by actively seeking and delivering new vaccines and treatments, the sooner, the better."