French company Valneva has started commercial manufacturing of its COVID-19 vaccine in Scotland, the UK government announced on Thursday. The UK government has purchased 60 million doses of the vaccine, with an option to acquire a further 130 million if it is approved, the government said in a press release. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is on a one-day visit to Scotland on Thursday, welcomed the “brilliant” news on Twitter, which he said would create 100 high-skilled jobs at the site in Livingston, West Lothian. Valneva’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate is currently undergoing trials and will need to receive regulatory approval before it is rolled out at the end of the year. The company said on Thursday that 150 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 years have been recruited for a clinical study, which commenced mid-December and is expected to report initial results in April 2021. If the jab gets approved by …