A bomb disposal unit was called to a site in Wrexham, north Wales, where the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is put into vials, earlier today after a suspicious package was found there.
A representative of Wockhardt UK, the company which operates the site, said: “Upon expert advice we have partially evacuated the site pending a full investigation. The safety of our employees and business continuity remain of paramount importance.”
The site has the capacity to produce around 300 million doses of the vaccine each year, and Wockhardt UK said that they hoped the disruption caused by the evacuation would not force them to deviate from their production schedule.
North Wales Police also asked the public to avoid the area, shutting off roads around the site, which is located in an industrial estate. They have now removed the contents of the package in order to analyse them, a police spokesperson saying, “police will undertake an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. There are no wider concerns for public safety, however some roads on the industrial estate will remain closed whilst we continue our investigations.”
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