The government has set up a vaccine taskforce that includes academics, charities and pharmaceutical companies to speed up the development of a viable coronavirus vaccine, Business Secretary Alok Sharma has announced.
The taskforce is already up and running, and is being led by the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan van Tam. Other members of the taskforce include the government life sciences champion Sir John Bell, the Wellcome Trust and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Sharma said the government “cannot give a date” for when a vaccine would be ready, but the expertise of the taskforce would ensure it happened “as quickly as possible”.
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