UK would not have approved Valneva COVID vaccine, health secretary says

Britain cancelled its contract for about 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by France's Valneva in part because it was clear it would not be approved for use in the country, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Tuesday.

"There are commercial reasons that we have cancelled the contract but what I can tell her is that it was also clear to us that the vaccine in question that the company was developing would not get approval by the MHRA here in the UK," he said in response to a question from a Scottish lawmaker.