LONDON: Oxford University vaccine against Covid-19 produced by AstraZeneca it is likely to get regulatory approval from the UK’s independent regulator later this year for a rollout to begin in early 2021, according to a British media report.
The Medicines and Health Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which the UK government had formally received the liquidation process last month, is expected after the puncture appeared “safe and effective” against the new coronavirus in trials. in humans, the vaccine is expected to be authorized On 28 or 29 December after final data was provided on Monday, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ quoted government sources as indicating.
“The authorization of the MHRA will also give confidence to countries around the world. India has already manufactured more than 50 million AstraZeneca vaccines, ”the newspaper notes.
In India, the vaccine is being produced as part of a link with the Serum Institute of India.
Health officials in the UK are hoping that the Oxford test authorization will be a “game changer” that will allow vaccines to be transported and administered much more easily compared to the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine to be stored at very cold temperatures.
The Oxford vaccine can be stored in normal refrigerators, but as a Pfizer vaccine, also requires two doses, with a three-week difference between the two doses for Pfizer punches and a four-week difference for the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, AZD1222, has taken longer to assess by regulators due to differences in efficacy rates found in different groups, ranging from 62 to 90%. However, a study published this week suggests that leaving a proper gap between doses is the most crucial way to increase effectiveness, according to the newspaper.
Although the first batch of 4 million doses will be delivered from the Netherlands and Germany, most of the manufacturing will be done in the UK.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has said an additional 15 million doses of active ingredients are ready and can be filled into vials in a matter of days, the newspaper report adds.
It is believed that the full order of 100 million doses, in addition to the 40 million doses of Pfizer punctures imported from Belgium, is enough to vaccinate the entire UK.
The state-funded National Health Service (NHS), which leads the UK’s massive vaccine with the Pfizer vaccine, has drawn up plans for “large-scale” vaccination sites at football stadiums, racecourses and conference centers to begin administering laundry first week of January. The program will also be expanded to street pharmacies and other general practitioner practices (GPs).
News of a second vaccine for the UK comes when the US removes its second vaccine for emergency use against the virus Modern vaccine – and will begin rolling out thousands of doses soon alongside the Pfizer vaccine.
Meanwhile, the UK has been vaccinating the highest risk categories of the population with the first of two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for more than two weeks, although millions more across the country have entered the measures of Covid-19’s strongest blockade since Saturday due to rising infection rates.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson convened an unscheduled meeting of senior ministers on Friday night to hold talks on a worrying new variant of the deadly virus, which has spread more rapidly London and the south-east of England.
“We really hope we can avoid anything like that. But the reality is that infection rates have gone up a lot in recent weeks,” Johnson said when asked about the possibility of another complete one. national closing in the new year.
Earlier this week, the four nations of the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) agreed not to reverse a change in the law that allowed three households to meet over Christmas with relaxed rules between the December 23 and 27, but people are advised to keep their “Christmas bubbles” as small and short as possible.
Recent analyzes suggest that the number R, which represents how many people infected by each infected person, has once again surpassed the dreaded mark of one.
On Friday, the UK recorded 28,507 more cases, along with 489 deaths in the 28 days following the positive coronavirus test, bringing the country’s death toll to 66,541.