UK scientists ready to make next pandemic vaccine in 100 days as super lab Porton Down develops prototypes to tackle ‘Disease X’

By Liam On Aug 6, 2023

British scientists are leading the charge to create a vaccine to halt the next deadly pandemic within 100 days of its outbreak.

Experts are working on a high-security project at Porton Down, the top-secret government laboratory, to develop prototype vaccines to tackle ‘Disease X’ when it hits.

The ambitious goal would wipe out the 362 days it took to develop a Covid jab, potentially stopping crippling lockdowns in the future.

Scientists agree it’s only a matter of time until the next pandemic, and according to a recent government report, it’s one of the biggest threats to life this year.

The new super lab, which the Mail was invited to last week, is geared to work with the world’s deadliest live viruses, with more specialized high-containment labs than anywhere else in Europe.

Experts are working on a high-security project at Porton Down, the top-secret government lab, to develop prototype vaccines to tackle ‘Disease X’ when it hits (stock image)

The new superlab, to which the Mail was invited last week, is geared to work with the world’s deadliest living viruses

It works with academics and industry and is the only site in the UK equipped to make a vaccine from start to finish.

Dr. Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said Britain is already ready to launch a “very slick and rapid response” to the next global threat.

From chemical weapons to nerve agent testing, the controversial past of a secret site

Nestled in the Wiltshire countryside five miles outside Salisbury is the ‘top secret’ government laboratory, Porton Down.

Most recently, it was in the spotlight when a nerve agent was used in an attempted assassination of former Russian intelligence officer turned British double agent, Sergei Skripal.

The Department of Defense facility analyzed the substance used and identified it as a Novichok.

Founded in 1916 after Germany’s use of chlorine gas, it was tasked with researching and developing chemical and later biological weapons – 21,752 military personnel took part in the controversial program from 1939 to 1989.

In 1953, airplane man Ronald Maddison was taking part in nerve tests when sarin spilled on his arm – he was dead within an hour. His death was ruled a misfortune, which was ruled a wrongful killing in 2004.

In 2009, the Ministry of Defense awarded £3 million in damages to 360 veterans of the tests, but with no admission of liability.

The British chemical and biological weapons program was halted in the 1950s.

At the launch of the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre, she said it represented a “step change in terms of pandemic response”, adding: “The risk (of a new pandemic) is increasing.

“The 100-day mission is to identify a pathogen with pandemic potential and in 100 days you’ll have vaccines to try and control that.”

“This is shifting from being super ready to respond to actually trying to prevent (pandemics) from happening.

‘For previous vaccines, that was five to ten years. Before Covid it was 362 days, so to get to 100 days, the ambition is really too big. But if we want to prevent pandemics, that’s exactly what we have to do.’

Adjacent to the Ministry of Defense site in Salisbury, Wiltshire, the 3,000 square meter laboratory space is a positive ‘legacy’ of the pandemic.

Metal hangars were built and wings converted from old storage and office spaces into state-of-the-art laboratories when Covid hit, carrying out vital tests to determine government policy, such as which vaccines to buy.

Its creation has increased capacity so that scientists can conduct tests against a range of diseases on 3,000 samples each week, compared to 100 before Covid hit.

It means that in the future, science will be available to influence policymakers much more quickly, reducing the threat of landlocking. Even now, experts here are monitoring new Covid variants, conducting tests to see how effective vaccines are and how long protection lasts.

But the assignment goes well beyond Covid, with more than 200 scientists working on more than 100 projects. These include surveillance and potential vaccine development for diseases including HN51 bird flu, which kills nearly 50 percent of those it infects.

Others target tuberculosis and Clostridium difficile, a bacterial infection common in hospitals that can be deadly for the elderly.

Scientists say global migration leads to increasing threats as humans and animals move closer together. Global warming also creates the risk of pathogens transmitted by vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks emerging in previously unheard-of places, including the UK.

The ambitious goal would wipe out the 362 days it took to develop a Covid jab, potentially stopping crippling lockdowns in the future (stock image)

Early clinical trials are underway for what could be the world’s first vaccine against Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, a virus spread by tick bites recently found in the nearby New Forest.

Professor Isabel Oliver, Chief Scientific Officer at UKHSA, said: ‘We have seen a very large number of new infectious diseases over the last few decades. There is no doubt that new pandemics will break out in the not-too-distant future.

“We know that through scientific advances, we can detect and contain these threats before they have the impact of Covid-19 on our lives.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the center ‘confirms the UK’s global position as a frontrunner in pandemic preparedness, vaccine development and scientific discovery’.

He added: “Hundreds of the world’s leading scientists are already working at the center on vaccines… to save lives around the world.”