The United Kingdom will approve a COVID-19 vaccine that drug manufacturers say is effective in fighting the new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading around the world.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told the Sunday Times researchers say the vaccine is as effective as the 95 percent success rate touted by rival drug developers. However, concerns have been raised about preliminary partial test results suggesting that the AstraZeneca injection is only about 70 percent effective at preventing COVID-19.
The new shot from AstraZeneca and Oxford University is easier to transport and store, potentially giving the country another powerful tool to combat the rising rates of infection there, three weeks after the UK became the first Western country to start vaccinations.
The vaccine could be approved by UK drug regulators this week and be available to the public in the first week of January.
“We think we came up with the winning formula and how to get efficacy that will be present in everyone after two doses,” Soriot told the paper. “I can’t tell you more because we will publish at some point.”
Regarding the vaccine’s effectiveness against the new British mutation, Soriot told the Times, “So far we think the vaccine should remain effective. But we’re not sure, so we’re going to test that. “
Hospitals in the UK are becoming increasingly tense as the country recorded more than 30,000 positive COVID-19 tests and 316 deaths from the virus on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 70,752.
By Christmas Eve, British health officials said more than 600,000 had received the first of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
According to a report in the Mirror, widespread travel restrictions and public lockdowns could be relaxed by the end of February if the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is quickly approved and distributed to a threshold of 15 million of Britain’s most vulnerable citizens.
Britain has pre-ordered 100 million doses of the drug.
With AP wires