Question reference: S6W-00516
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 8 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the impact on the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing plant in Livingston would be, should Valneva's inactivated whole virus vaccine not be approved for use.
Answer
Valneva is an important part of the life science eco-system and supports directly high value jobs directly.
Scottish Government can offer support to companies impacted by a change in projected work and if required, a package of mitigation measures can be delivered by Scottish Government and its agencies.
There is no indication Valneva is in this position, Valneva’s coronavirus vaccine candidate is just one range of speciality vaccines developed at the site to combat a number of infectious diseases.
UK Government Department of Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEiS) commented that Valneva's manufacturing facility in Livingston is a unique facility that establishes permanent UK capability to manufacture inactivated viral vaccines – one of the most proven, widely used vaccine formats. It is one of few Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) containment facilities in Europe and a key part of the UK’s long term pandemic preparedness as it will have the capability to grow rapidly new pandemic viruses which can be inactivated and combined with an adjuvant to create future vaccines. This capability could shorten the time dramatically to developing whole inactivated vaccines against future pandemic viruses.