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Britain is to become a production hub for the worldwide supply of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
A landmark deal will see the firm's drug bottled in Swindon before being sent to Pfizer's vast depot in the Belgian town of Puurs and distributed around the world.
The tie-up between Pfizer and Thermo Fisher Scientific, a US laboratory equipment maker which has an existing base in Swindon, will create 200 new jobs.
The Pfizer-BioNTech jab was the first to be administered by a major western nation when Margaret Keenan, now 91, received a dose in December in Coventry.
A landmark deal will see the Pfizer's drug bottled in Swindon before being sent to Pfizer's vast depot in the Belgian town of Puurs and distributed around the world (stock image)
However, the vaccine has not until now been made or bottled in the UK, with supplies coming from Puurs.
From early next year, Thermo Fisher will take on so-called 'fill and finish' duties for some of the Pfizer jabs, which involves putting the vaccine into vials and packaging them for distribution.
Pfizer, which will continue to manufacture the drug at nine sites in the US and Europe along with those of 20 contractors across the world, said
