Boris Johnson announces new £46m funding package to develop coronavirus vaccine
3 min read
Boris Johnson has announced a new £46m funding package to help develop a vaccine and rapid testing kit for coronavirus.
The Prime Minister said the cash boost will help fund work on eight possible vaccines to tackle the deadly disease, but warned it could take as long as a year before one is ready.
Speaking following a visit to a medical research laboratory, Mr Johnson said the cash would also be used to research a rapid testing kit which could provide a result within 20 minutes.
The Bedford-based lab, which already has experience in creating checks for Ebola and yellow fever, hope tests could be carried out using only a swap of saliva or a pinprick of blood.
Currently, tests for the virus can only be carried out by medical professionals, with results taking several days to be returned.
The announcement comes after the Department of Health announced there are now 116 confirmed cases in the UK, with a woman in her 70s becoming the first to die from the illness.
Mr Johnson said: "What we are announcing today is a £46m package of investment in UK science which will in time deliver a vaccine. Some say perhaps a year, perhaps around that scale.
"But also to help us have rapid test kits that anybody can use quickly and efficiently to tell whether we have the coronavirus and indeed many other different diseases.
"The amazing thing about this progress is it is UK led and it will be made here in the UK."
In a statement, he added: "Keeping the British people safe is my number one priority, and that's why I've set out our four-part plan to contain, delay, mitigate and research coronavirus.
"We are ensuring the country is prepared for the current outbreak, guided by the science at every stage. But we also need to invest now in researching the vaccines that could help prevent future outbreaks."
Coronavirus spread "highly likely"
The announcement comes after the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said he did not believe a working vaccine will be delivered in time to tackle the current outbreak.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think we will get the vaccine for this outbreak. I don't think we'll get something in time or at scale for this outbreak.
"That said, there have been remarkable changes in the ability to make vaccines, and discover vaccines, just in the last few years, and so things have progressed much more quickly than they would have done in the past."
Mr Johnson is set to chair a second meeting of the government's emergency Cobra committee on Monday to address the crisis after the Govenrment warned it was "highly likely" there would be a "significant" spread of the illness.
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