Stockton North MP, Alex Cunningham, has today (27 Oct. 21) welcomed the news that Novavax have finally submitted their Covid vaccine to the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA).
The announcement followed his meeting with Novavax’s Head of Government Affairs yesterday (Tuesday 26 October).
The news that 60 million doses of the vaccine was to be made at Fujifilm in Billingham was announced to much fanfare earlier in the year, with the Prime Minister making a trip to the plant for a photo opportunity. Since then, however, news about the production has been limited and volunteers for trials have been left in limbo as they struggled to find out if they could get another vaccine – something that was eventually confirmed following interventions from Alex and others.
Attempts by Alex to speak to the company were ignored but Novavax sought a meeting with him after his intervention in the House of Commons last week demanding answers from the Government. At the meeting Alex was told that Novavax were confident that approvals would be submitted soon and that results from their trials were positive.
Alex said:
“After speaking to Novavax representatives yesterday about the need to end the uncertainty around the vaccine it’s great to hear that the company have finally submitted it for approval. I don’t know how long the approvals process will take but hope production will get up and running soon.
“This announcement is good for Billingham – creating jobs for the area – and also good for our continuing efforts to protect people against Coronavirus. We now need it approved, produced and ready to be administered to people as soon as practically possible – and I‘ll continue to monitor Novavax’s progress.”
