The plan developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is cheaper and easier to distribute than other offerings.
The United Nations health agency has listed the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca for emergency use, days after a group of experts recommended the use of the products. in environments where coronavirus variants circulate.
A statement from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said it had approved the relatively economical feature produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (South Korea) and the Serum Institute of India.
“Now we have all the pieces for the fast distribution of vaccines. But we still need to increase production, ”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing.
“We continue to call on COVID-19 vaccine developers to submit their dossiers to the WHO for review at the same time as they submit them to regulators in high-income countries,” he said.
The WHO listing came days after the Strategic Advisors Group on Vaccination Experts provided interim recommendations on the vaccine, saying two doses should be given with an interval of eight to 12 weeks to all adults and could be used in all countries, including those where there was a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa.
Last week, the country stopped part of the launch of the AstraZeneca vaccine after data from a small trial showed that it did not protect against mild to moderate diseases of the 501Y.V2 variant.
The WHO review found that the AstraZeneca vaccine met the “essential” safety criteria and its efficacy benefits outweighed its risks.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca feature has been acclaimed because it is cheaper and can be stored at the normal temperature of the refrigerator. This makes it easier to distribute than some rivals, including the one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which was listed for emergency use by the WHO in late December.
It has been reported that about 109 million people have been infected with the new coronavirus worldwide and more than 2.5 million have died.
Doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine make up most of the doses of the COVAX coronavirus vaccine sharing initiative.
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands said COVAX is a project designed to provide equitable access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
More than 330 million doses of the shot will begin to be deployed in the poorest countries as of the end of February.
“Countries that currently do not have access to any vaccine can start vaccinating their health workers and their most at-risk groups,” Challands said, speaking from East Sussex.
“The fear of the whole COVID-19 pandemic is that it would be the richest countries that would buy all the vaccines and that there would not be enough to get around.”
A health official receives a dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute at Colombo Infectious Diseases Hospital, Sri Lanka, on January 29, 2021 [File: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]