(Reuters) – Oxford scientists are preparing to rapidly produce new versions of their vaccine to combat emerging, more contagious COVID-19 variants discovered in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, The Telegraph reported Wednesday.
The team behind the vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc is conducting feasibility studies to reconfigure the technology, bit.ly/3o1DNRf newspaper said, citing a confirmation from the University of Oxford.
The scientists were estimating how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform, the report said.
AstraZeneca turned to Oxford for comment. An Oxford spokesperson said the university is carefully assessing the impact of new variants on vaccine immunity and is evaluating the processes required for the rapid development of modified COVID-19 vaccines should they be needed.
Separately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the national drug regulator will be ready and able to approve new versions of COVID-19 vaccines designed to counter new variants of the coronavirus that may appear.
Recent lab tests have shown that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE is likely to work against the UK variant that is spreading around the world.
BioNTech has said it plans to publish a more detailed analysis of its vaccine’s likely effect on the South African variant in a few days.
AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc and CureVac NV are also testing whether their respective shots will protect against the rapidly spreading variants.
Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot