The chief executive of Moderna has hailed the UK as “a country that still believes in vaccination” as the US pharmaceutical firm opens a new manufacturing base in Oxfordshire.
The comment was made against the backdrop of a rise in anti-vax and science-sceptic attitudes within the Trump administration.
US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has become known for his vaccine-sceptic views. He has made a number of false claims about the damage vaccines can do, and promoted debunked theories suggesting that vaccines may be connected to autism.
Though Moderna’s plan to open the first mRNA manufacturing plant in the UK was in place before Mr Trump’s second presidential term began, its chief executive Stephane Bancel made a point of telling Sky News that the company was opening the factory in a country that “still believes in vaccination”.
He told the broadcaster that if anti-vaccine rhetoric impacts demand in the US, the UK operation “may pay dividends”.
“If there is less appetite by governments around the world, including in the US, to use vaccines, we might invest less in vaccines,” Mr Bancel added. “We have to invest where there’s a demand for our products.”
Moderna is investing more than £1bn in UK research and development as part of 10-year strategic partnership with the government.
The company said the Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC) at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, near Chilton, is the UK’s first onshore facility to manufacture mRNA jabs.
The facility can make up to 100 million doses per year, rising to 250 million in a pandemic, and will create around 150 highly skilled jobs, the government said.
It comes amid a challenging investment landscape for the sector in the UK, after other major firms shelved or paused planned UK investments this year.
Industry bosses recently told MPs that a “difficult” environment and pressure on pricing had made the UK a less attractive investment environment than other countries, such as the US.
Last week, UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline revealed plans to put nearly £22bn into US research, development and manufacturing over the next five years.
It came after US-based drugmaker Merck said its UK operation was scrapping plans for a £1bn site in London’s King’s Cross, which had been due to open in 2027. Bosses blamed the government for paying too little for medicines and not investing enough in the sector, as it confirmed the move, which will impact around 125 jobs.
Days later, AstraZeneca announced it had paused plans to invest £200m at a Cambridge research site.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said the “new cutting-edge facility” in Oxfordshire marks the “next pivotal moment in boosting our nation’s health, innovation and economy”.
He went on: “The government is investing billions into this vital sector, and partnering the might of Moderna with the brilliance of our NHS will enable us to benefit from innovative vaccine technology as we shift healthcare from treatment to prevention.”
Darius Hughes, UK general manager of Moderna, said the site will strengthen the country’s “pandemic preparedness”.
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