Sourcing vaccines and antisera from China

Zero duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, antisera and other blood fractions, immunological products whether mixed, unmixed or in measured doses, human and veterinary vaccines, cell therapy products, human blood and animal blood prepared for therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic uses carried 0% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. For the reverse trade route, see UK vaccine exports to China.

Diagnostic kits built around antibodies may be classified as reagents instead; confirm the commodity code with the full composition.

Human medicines: the MHRA route

Regulation 17 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 says a person may not import a medicinal product into Great Britain from a country other than Northern Ireland or an approved country for import without a manufacturer's licence. China is not an approved country, so a vaccine or antiserum used as a medicine needs a licensed importer with batch certification, as well as a UK marketing authorisation to be sold. For medicinal mixtures supplied in bulk, see our bulk medicaments sourcing guide.

The medicines guide explains how that licence chain works in practice. For doxycycline, see our doxycycline capsule sourcing guide. For inhalers, see our salbutamol inhaler sourcing guide.

Veterinary vaccines, diagnostics and pathogens

Veterinary vaccines are regulated by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which runs import certificate schemes for products without a UK authorisation. Antibody reagents sold for diagnosis are in vitro diagnostic devices, which need UKCA or CE marking and MHRA registration; see medical products.

Pathogens and cultures of pathogens are licensed separately; the Specified Animal Pathogens Order 2008 requires a licence to hold or work with the specified animal pathogens concerned, and a separate import licence is required under the Importation of Animal Pathogens Order (IAPO) 1980.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: a consignment of veterinary vaccines, commodity code 3002 42 00 00, bought for £80,000 free on board, with £4,000 of freight and insurance, so £84,000 is the value customs works from. No duty is due on veterinary vaccines; import VAT at 20% of £84,000 is £16,800. If you are VAT-registered, that VAT is normally reclaimable. Freight is high because the shipment travels by air in validated cold-chain packaging. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Cold chain: ship in packaging validated for the route and season, with a continuous temperature data logger in each shipper, download the logger at arrival before release, and review any excursion against the manufacturer's stability data under the Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of medicinal products for human use (2013/C 343/01).

Batch documents: for human medicines, check that the licensed importer's Qualified Person has certified the batch, and match batch number, expiry date and storage conditions on every pack against the certificate of analysis and release documents; for veterinary products, check the Veterinary Medicines Directorate import certificate covers the exact product and quantity.

Packs: check vials, ampoules and closures for cracks, leaks and intact tamper evidence on a sample from each batch, check labels against the UK authorisation or import certificate, and for antibody-based diagnostic reagents check the UKCA or CE marking and MHRA registration before sale. For procurement, see our pharmaceutical glass vial sourcing guide.

What goes wrong

Biological products fail on the cold chain, authorisation and authenticity. A temperature excursion in transit can make a whole batch unusable without any visible sign, products arrive without the licence, batch release or import certificate the regulator requires, and packs are labelled only in Chinese. Falsified or diverted products enter through unofficial channels, and batch documents that do not match the packs stop clearance.

Confirm the MHRA or Veterinary Medicines Directorate route and licence numbers before ordering, agree validated packaging with temperature data loggers read at arrival, check batch certificates, certificates of analysis and release documents against every pack, buy only from the authorised manufacturer or its licensed distributor, and quarantine goods until the documents and logger data are reviewed.

Cold chain and documents

Agree the storage temperature, data loggers, packaging validation and the air route before the order, and have the batch certificate, certificate of analysis and licence numbers ready for clearance.

Cambridge China Bridge sources vaccines, antisera and reagents, with the licence route, cold chain and batch documents settled before the order. See how our sourcing service works.