Oxford City Council has voted unanimously to oppose the privatisation of the £200 million Vaccine centre in Oxford.

The Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, based in Harwell Oxfordshire, was launched in 2018 with public funding but has been put up for sale.

A motion against the privatisation of the centre was, proposed by Green Councillors Chris Jarvis and Lucy Pegg, and passed by the City Council on March 21.

Council leader Susan Brown will write to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and to the three founding universities expressing the Council’s view.

The founding universities are the University of Oxford, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Imperial College London

In advance of the motion, campaigners demonstrated outside the Town Hall.

Oxford Mail: Demonstrators campaign outside Town Hall before council make their decision to condemn sale of VMIC. Demonstrators campaign outside Town Hall before council make their decision to condemn sale of VMIC.

READ MORE: 50 people fuming over privatisation of £200m vaccine centre that 'saved lives' during Covid

The demonstration saw speeches from local Councillors such leader of the Green Group on the City Council Chris Jarvis.

He said: “Putting the VMIC up for sale is beyond absurd. Throughout the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve seen that when private profit is put above public health, multi-national companies line their pockets and people suffer.

"We should be learning the lessons from this, not repeating the same mistakes. I’m incredibly grateful that Councillors - Green, Labour, and Liberal Democrat - have all put political differences aside and called for this damaging move to be blocked.” 

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