New Valneva Covid-19 vaccine approved in the UK

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A sixth coronavirus vaccine has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The independent medicines regulator is the first in the world to approve the jab, developed by Valneva.

Initially 100 million doses of the French firm’s jab were due to be delivered in the UK, but the Government cancelled the deal in September due to a “breach of obligations”. The firm has a factory in Livingston near Edinburgh.

The approval of the jab comes as the number of coronavirus-related deaths registered each week in England and Wales continues to rise. However, levels are still well below those reached during previous waves of the virus.

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According to the NHS Confederation, the very high rates of Covid-19 infections are having a “major impact” on the health service, which is facing pressures it would see in a “bad winter” well into spring. But Downing Street has rejected the call to reintroduce greater mask-wearing and a push to encourage mixing outdoors.

The former chairwoman of the country’s vaccine taskforce last year said Government may have “acted in bad faith” in the way it cancelled the deal for the Valneva vaccine. Dame Kate Bingham, who stood down from her role at the end of 2020, criticised the decision to pull out of the agreement before Valneva had finished clinical testing of the vaccine.

The decision was not only a blow to international pandemic efforts, but would dampen the UK’s resilience to future disease outbreaks, Dame Kate said in a speech at Oxford University in November.

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