The UK has opened a new center to allow vaccines to be developed for future pandemic pathogens.
Introduced in 2018, by the World Health Organization (WHO), “Disease X signifies the awareness that a significant global outbreak might arise from a pathogen currently unrecognized as a cause of human illness.” Disease X is grouped alongside recognized pandemic scares such as SARS and Ebola.
The Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s campus in Porton Down, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, United Kingdom with a team of over 200 scientists at the forefront of the initiative.
Special containment facilities on-site will house live viruses, where scientists will study pathogens lacking vaccines or those needing immunization enhancement, such as influenza or mpox.
The health secretary, Steve Barclay, said the new center cements the UK’s global position of spearheading pandemic preparedness, vaccine development, and scientific discovery. He added that the state-of-the-art complex will also help deliver the UK’s commitment to produce new vaccines within 100 days of a new threat being identified.
According to Prof Isabel Oliver, UKHSA’s chief scientific officer, through scientific advancement, they could detect and control the spread of Disease X before it has the impact that Covid-19 had on our lives.
