Vaccines: New Pfizer research centre opens in Bristol

Health Secretary Matt Hancock and vice chancellor Hugh Brady opened the new centre at the University of Bristol

The first centre of excellence for studying vaccine-preventable diseases outside the US has been launched.

Funded by coronavirus vaccine manufacturer Pfizer and based at the University of Bristol, it is the second of a planned global network of sites.

The centre will research the design, development and use of the next generation of vaccines.

Academics from the university were the first UK team to study "live" Covid-19 in a laboratory.

The Pfizer Centre of Excellence for Epidemiology of Vaccine-preventable Diseases will conduct studies in hospitals and the wider community, the company said.

Pfizer aims to create a network of vaccine research centres across the world

The studies would aim to "identify and measure the burden of specific vaccine-preventable infectious diseases affecting adults, including the elderly, as well as children," it added.

Pfizer said it had invested an initial £4.6 million into the centre, which was visited by Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier.

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The centre will be led by Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at the university, director of the Bristol Vaccine Centre and head of Bristol UNCOVER - the city's Covid-19 emergency research group.

He said a global approach to research was crucial in understanding how vaccines can be used against diseases.

"It has never been more critical for industry and academia to work together to overcome the plight of infectious diseases," added Prof Finn.

Fighting future diseases

During his visit Mr Hancock met virologists Dr Andrew Davidson and Dr David Matthews.

At the start of the pandemic, the two doctors were the only team in a UK university working with "live" human coronaviruses and the first UK team to publish research using the live human SARS-CoV-2 virus - another name for Covid-19 - in a controlled lab.

The university's vice chancellor and president Prof Hugh Brady said he and his staff were "honoured" to have been chosen for the centre.

Pfizer's senior vaccine president Dr Luis Jodar said the studies the centre in Bristol would conduct would be "a critical component" in how vaccination could reduce the impact of infectious diseases.

The first Pfizer centre of excellence was launched at the University of Louisville in 2020.