Oxford did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. (Representative)
Oxford scientists are preparing to quickly produce new versions of the vaccine to combat the more contagious COVID-19 variants found in Britain, South Africa and Brazil, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
The team behind the Oxford vaccine and AstraZeneca Plc are undertaking feasibility studies to reconfigure the technology, the newspaper said, citing confirmation from Oxford University.
The scientists were working to estimate how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform, the report said.
A university spokesman told the newspaper that Oxford is carefully assessing the impact of the new variants on vaccine immunity and assessing the processes needed for the rapid development of adjusted COVID-19 vaccines.
Oxford did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
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.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is published in a syndicated stream.)