First Minister Mark Drakeford has confirmed that a new Covid vaccine will be used in Wales. The vaccine, which has been developed by Valneva, has been given regulatory approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The independent medicines regulator is the first in the world to approve the Valneva product, MHRA said in a statement. The drug has been approved for use in people aged 18 to 50, with two doses to be taken 28 days apart.
It can also be stored at a normal fridge temperature. The jab developed by the firm, which has a factory in Livingston near Edinburgh, is the sixth Covid-19 vaccine to be granted an MHRA authorisation.
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Speaking on Thursday, Mr Drakeford confirmed to BBC Radio Wales: "It will be available to us in Wales, and vaccination remains the single most important thing that any one of us can do in our own lives to protect ourselves and to protect other people.
"Having another vaccine available just makes the system more resilient, and it is good news for Wales."
The vaccine is the first whole-virus inactivated one to gain regulatory approval in the UK. With this type of vaccine, the MHRA says the virus is grown in a lab and then made completely inactive so that it cannot infect cells or replicate in the body but can still trigger an immune response to the Covid-19 virus. This process is widely used already in the production of flu and polio vaccines.
Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said: " Our approval of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Valneva today follows a rigorous review of the safety, quality and effectiveness of this vaccine, and expert advice from the government’s independent scientific advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines.”
Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, Chair of the independent Commission on Human Medicines, said: " The independent Commission on Human Medicines and its COVID-19 Expert Working Group has carefully considered the available evidence are pleased to say that we have advised that the benefit risk balance is positive. The vaccine is approved for use in people aged 18 to 50 years, with the first and second doses to be taken at least 28 days apart.
"Each type of vaccine has a different pattern of antibody response over time. For the Valneva vaccine, two doses are required before a robust antibody response is raised. This means that people will need to be made aware that protection will only start after two doses.
"The storage temperature for the Valneva vaccine - of 2°C to 8°C - is similar to that of a domestic fridge, making it appropriate for use in countries where storage at very low temperatures is not possible."
The news comes comes as the number of deaths involving coronavirus registered each week in England and Wales continues to rise, although levels remain well below those reached during previous waves of the virus.
The NHS Confederation has said very high rates of Covid-19 infections are having a "major impact" on the health service, which is facing pressures it would see in a "bad winter" well into spring.
But Downing Street has rejected the call to reintroduce greater mask-wearing and a push to encourage mixing outdoors, and the latest lockdown review in Wales announced today has seen little change. You can read more on that announcement here.
The legal requirement to wear face coverings in health and social care settings will remain in place for another three weeks. However a rule that means businesses have to carry out specific coronavirus risk assessments will end on Monday, April 18.
The UK had been due to receive 100 million doses of the French firm's jab, but the Government cancelled the deal in September due to a "breach of obligations".
The former chairwoman of the country's vaccine taskforce last year said Government may have "acted in bad faith" in the way it cancelled the deal for the Valneva vaccine.
Dame Kate Bingham, who stood down from her role at the end of 2020, criticised the decision to pull out of the agreement before Valneva had finished clinical testing of the vaccine.
The decision was not only a blow to international pandemic efforts, but would dampen the UK's resilience to future disease outbreaks, Dame Kate said in a speech at Oxford University in November.
