Scientists begin work on vaccine for new pandemic ‘Disease X’

UK researchers are actively engaged in the creation of vaccines to serve as a precautionary measure against a potential future pandemic originating from an unfamiliar “Disease X”. 

This initiative is based at the highly secure Porton Down laboratory complex in Wiltshire, overseen by a team of over 200 scientists.

Their collective efforts have yielded a roster of potential animal-borne viruses with the capacity to infect humans and rapidly propagate worldwide.

The exact pathogen that could spark the next pandemic remains uncertain, which is why it is simply denoted as “Disease X”.

Providing a glimpse into the operations, Sky News received a guided tour of the facility, administered by the UK Health Security Agency.

Within this high-containment environment, researchers work tirelessly to develop strategies within well-equipped labs.

Professor Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency, emphasized the agency’s objective: proactive preparation to preemptively address a potential Disease X outbreak. Harries elaborated, “Our aim here is to establish comprehensive readiness, should we encounter a new Disease X or an unfamiliar pathogen.

We’re striving to minimize the impact. Ideally, prevention would be our success story, but if containment fails, we’ve already initiated the process of formulating vaccines and therapeutics.”

To accommodate this critical work, the Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre at Porton Down has undergone expansion.

While its initial focus was on COVID and assessing the efficacy of vaccines against emerging variants, the center’s researchers are now vigilantly monitoring various high-risk pathogens.

Among these are avian influenza, monkeypox, and hantavirus—a malady propagated by rodents.