New vaccine research centre in UK to help scientists prepare for ‘disease X’

The Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s campus in Porton Down, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Ministers have opened a new vaccine research centre in the UK where scientists will work on preparing for “disease X”, the next potential pandemic pathogen.

The state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Porton Down campus in Wiltshire.