Getting Down to Business in the District to Tackle Coronavirus

Some of the district’s biggest businesses are playing a key role in the nation’s effort to tackle coronavirus.

Pfizer at Discovery Park is playing its part in the global search for a vaccine against Covid-19.  A team of Pfizer scientists in Sandwich are working on a compound first discovered during the SARS crisis in 2003.

Pfizer employs 700 scientists, technicians, regulatory professionals and business experts at Discovery Park in Sandwich with a number of functions critical to the delivery of the company's mid to late stage portfolio located at Discovery Park.

Meanwhile Dover-based, Priority Freight, who recently received a coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, is currently one of the companies working hard to distribute personal protection equipment (PPE) in Britain and right across Europe from around the world.

Food packaging manufacturer, Sharpak, has responded to the national emergency by shifting one of its production lines to manufacture full face visors for the NHS, turning out up to 50,000 a day at its Aylesham factory for distribution to hospitals and care facilities across the country.   Sharpak serve the UK’s leading food manufacturers and supermarkets with bespoke packaging.

While the roads leading to Dover may be far quieter than usual, the Port of Dover and the ferry operators, DFDS and P&O Ferries have been working around the clock to keep trade flowing at this critical time. 

Around 17% of the nation’s trade passes through Dover so it’s a vital piece of national infrastructure that supports the supply of food, medicines and other essential items to the UK and Ireland.

Cllr Trevor Bartlett, Leader of Dover District Council, said: “The coronavirus national emergency is again demonstrating how the district plays a critical role in the nation’s economic health. From keeping the nation supplied with food, medicines and essential items through the Port of Dover, to the global search for potential new treatments by Pfizer at Discovery Park.

“Together with the many small businesses who have adapted to carry on providing essential services to local residents, I’d like to thank the business community for its magnificent response.”