Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna has chosen to build its new technology centre at a science campus near Didcot.

The biotechnology company said it would begin construction at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus this year and would finish by 2025.

It claimed its new Innovation and Technology Centre would create hundreds of jobs and give the UK access to mRNA vaccines for respiratory diseases.

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Stuart Grant, chief executive of Harwell Campus, said: “mRNA technology has the capability to transform how we treat a variety of diseases and enhance UK resilience against future pandemics.

“I’m delighted to welcome Moderna to Harwell campus, and our thriving health tech cluster.

“We’re entering a new era of medicine so it’s important that we deliver and build cutting edge facilities to reflect this and spaces that promote innovation and encourage collaboration.”

The plans would see two buildings constructed totalling 145,000 sq. ft. which would encompass a research, development, and manufacturing facility and a clinical biomarker laboratory.

It would add to the three million sq. ft of development already planned at the campus aimed to reduce the shortage of lab space available across Oxfordshire.

Moderna’s plans follow the finalisation of a 10-year partnership with the UK government, which has committed to buy the firm’s vaccines for the next decade.

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay said: “Harwell is already leading science and innovation in the UK and we look forward to the opening of this new mRNA centre.”