French speciality vaccine company Valneva announced yesterday that the UK government has ordered a further 40 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate VLA2001.

Previously, the UK government had ordered 60 million doses of VLA2001, with the most recent deal taking the total ordered to 100 million doses.

On top of this, the UK government also retains options for a further 90 million doses of VLA2001 for supply between 2023 and 2025.

Valneva has already launched production of the vaccine candidate and a Phase I/II clinical study is now fully enrolled, with initial results expected within the next three months.

The vaccine manufacturing has commenced at Valneva’s facility in West Lothian, Scotland, which has previously received multi-million investment from the UK government.

“To best ensure we have enough successful candidates to ensure maximum coverage of the UK population, the Vaccines Taskforce has invested in seven of the most promising vaccines,” said Clive Dix, interim chair of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce.

“The further 40 million doses secured through today’s deal significantly bolsters our portfolio and gives us future flexibility should we need to revaccinate any of the UK population,” he added.