UK signs partnership with CureVac to tackle Covid-19 variants

The UK government has signed a partnership with vaccine manufacturer CureVac in order to rapidly develop new vaccines for Covid-19 variants.

UK expertise on genomics and virus sequencing will be utilised to allow new varieties of vaccines based on messenger RNA technology to be developed quickly against new strains of Covid-19.

The UK has already placed an initial order for 50 million doses of new vaccines, which will be delivered later this year if needed. To date, the government has secured a portfolio of 407 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. This is in order to vaccinate a population of around 68 million.

The vaccines developed through this partnership will largely be variants based on an existing jab by CureVac which is currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials. The development process is similar to the method used to update flu vaccines each year. The new mRNA technology will be used to and update vaccines that can be reformulated against variants more quickly than older vaccine technologies.

Deputy chief medical officer, professor Jonathan Van-Tam said: “While the vaccines currently being deployed in the UK appear to work well against the Covid-19 variants currently dominant in the UK, the virus continues to mutate and it is likely that our vaccines will have to adapt to continue to offer the best possible protection. Being able to create these new vaccines at speed will allow our scientists to keep ahead of the virus as they do every year with the influenza vaccine.”

Interim chair of the Vaccines Taskforce Clive Dix said: “Today’s agreement will mean the UK is better prepared for the emergence of any significant new virus variant.

Because these mRNA vaccines can be rapidly adapted we will be ready to respond swiftly to new strains and update vaccines in the same way the flu vaccine is updated each year – a vital part of ending the pandemic once and for all.”

The UK government is setting up an expert advisory group looking at the current and potential future virus variants. The group will use UK Science Surveillance networks alongside genomic sequencing technologies and clinical trial capabilities to allow the rapid identification of and response to virus variants.