Everything you need to know about the Valneva Covid-19 vaccine being made in Livingston

Large-scale production has begun on a Covid-19 vaccine candidate being manufactured by Valneva in Livingston, it has been announced, as ministers said the site would be included in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to Scotland on Wednesday.
French engineer-virologist Thomas Mollet looks at 24 well plates adherent cells monolayer infected with a Sars-CoV-2 virus at the Biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL3) of the Valneva SE Group headquarters in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, western France, on July 30, 2020. (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)French engineer-virologist Thomas Mollet looks at 24 well plates adherent cells monolayer infected with a Sars-CoV-2 virus at the Biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL3) of the Valneva SE Group headquarters in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, western France, on July 30, 2020. (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)
French engineer-virologist Thomas Mollet looks at 24 well plates adherent cells monolayer infected with a Sars-CoV-2 virus at the Biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL3) of the Valneva SE Group headquarters in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, western France, on July 30, 2020. (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)

It is one of seven Covid-19 vaccine candidates pre-ordered by the UK, and the only one to be wholly manufactured in Scotland.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Valneva Covid-19 vaccine.

When will it be ready?

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The vaccine is due to be considered for approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) in the summer, probably around July, and Valneva has agreed to deliver 60 million doses for the UK by the end of 2021 if approved.

The UK then has options over 40 million doses in 2022, and a further 30 to 90 million doses from 2023 to 2025.

Who will be given it?

The vaccine will be ready after most Scots in the highest priority groups for receiving a vaccine have been given one, but at a stage when vaccination of the general population is likely to be ongoing.

There have also been suggestions it could be incorporated into a long-term vaccination plan. Business Secretary Alok Sharma has said the UK needs a “range of vaccines” to protect people “now and long into the future”.

How does it work?

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Valneva’s candidate is an inactivated whole virus vaccine, which contains virus that has been destroyed so cannot infect cells, but can still trigger an immune response.

The technology is used in flu, polio and rabies vaccines, and it’s a more traditional approach than the Pfizer (mRNA) and AstraZeneca (adenoviral) vaccines. Because the vaccine doesn’t contain any live virus, it may be especially suitable for vulnerable people, such as the elderly or those with weaker immune systems.

It’s comparatively easy to store, needing to be kept at normal fridge temperature, between two and eight degrees Celcius.

Who’s it being made by?

Valneva is a French biotech company based in Vienna. It’s one of the smaller firms developing a Covid-19 vaccine for the UK market, with around 500 employees in the UK, Austria, Sweden, France, Canada and the US.

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It currently offers two commercial travel vaccines, and is in the process of developing vaccines against chikungunya, a virus spread by mosquitoes, and Lyme disease.

The Valneva Livingston site was set up in 2004. Officials said the contract to develop a Covid-19 vaccine allowed them to hire around 75 new staff, and also to retain some jobs which might otherwise have been at risk as the site makes travel vaccines, demand for which has plummeted during the Covid-19 lockdown.

What happens next?

Even as manufacturing begins, clinical trials are still ongoing, with the vaccine being tested on 150 volunteers at four sites in Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Southampton.

Larger trials are planned for April 2021, with more than 4,000 volunteers in the UK being given two doses.

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The Livingston site is expected to have capacity to produce up to 250 million Covid-19 doses a year, for shipment to the UK and the rest of the world.

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