LONDON – AstraZeneca said Thursday it expects to have a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine ready for use this fall, as drug manufacturers respond to concerns about emerging variants of the disease that may be more transmissible or resistant to existing vaccines.
The Anglo-Swedish company, which makes a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, said it is working with the university’s scientists to modify the shot to combat new variants. Researchers began this work months ago when the variants were first discovered, said Mene Pangalos, head of biopharmaceutical research at AstraZeneca.
“We are moving fast and we have a number of variants in the works that we will choose from when we enter the clinic,” Pangalos said during a conference call with reporters.
FULLY VACCINATED PERSONS DO NOT NEED QUARANTINE POST-CORONAVIRUS EXPOSURE, CDC SAYS
The comments came as CEO Pascal Soriot defended the company’s efforts to develop and ramp up production of the shot amid criticism from the European Union and a preliminary study that raised concerns about the vaccine’s ability to produce a variant of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa. .
While the vaccine rollout has not been perfect, regulators in a number of countries have determined the vaccine to be safe and effective, and AstraZeneca will produce 100 million doses this month, Soriot said. Only a handful of vaccines have been approved for widespread use out of the hundreds that began development a year ago, he noted.
Syringes and a package containing AstraZeneca’s vaccine will be ready at the fourth vaccination center in Berlin at Tegel Airport, Germany, Wednesday, February 10, 2021.
(Kay Nietfeld / swimming pool via AP)
“One hundred million doses in February mean 100 million vaccinations, which means hundreds of thousands of serious infections are avoided, and it also means thousands of deaths are avoided,” Soriot said.
The EU discussed with AstraZeneca last month after the company halted initial deliveries of the vaccine to the block due to manufacturing issues.
COVID-19 VACCINATIONS WILL COME ‘OPEN SEASON’ IN APRIL, FAUCI SAYS
While the European Medicines Agency has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use by anyone over the age of 18, some European countries, including France and Germany, have recommended that people over 65 years of age should not be injected due to limited data on its effectiveness in older people .
This week, researchers released preliminary results from a small-scale study in South Africa, showing that the vaccine did little to prevent mild to moderate cases of the disease caused by the country-wide variety. The study also only looked at healthy young people.
But Soriot stressed that the vaccine is very good at preventing serious illness and death, which is its main goal.
CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
“We could get lost in a lot of details about this and that, but you have to look at the big picture,” Soriot said. “And the big picture is that today we have a vaccine that has been approved by several major regulators, all these scientific questions have been reviewed by the regulators.… This month we’re going to produce 100 million doses, in April 200 million doses.”