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AstraZeneca has developed a Covid-19 vaccine candidate at Oxford University.
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The coronavirus vaccine developed by
AstraZeneca
and the University of Oxford is set for approval in the UK, paving the way for large-scale vaccinations with a house blow that is cheaper and easier to transport and store than other vaccines.
The UK Medicines and Medicines Regulatory Agency will immediately authorize the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine for emergency use, according to reports from the Financial Times and The Telegraph. The vaccine could be approved in a few days.
Shares in Cambridge, UK, AstraZeneca, based in the UK, traded 3.3% in London on Tuesday.
The effectiveness of the vaccine is 90% when patients take half a dose, followed by a full dose. Two full doses taken one month apart resulted in less than 62% efficacy. When all results are calculated, it led to an overall efficiency of up to 70%, compared to rivals at about 95%.
In an interview with the Sunday Times last Sunday, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said: “We believe we have discovered the winning formula and how to achieve effectiveness that, after two doses, is there with everyone else. I can’t tell you more, because we will publish at some point. “
The approval will come a few weeks after the UK became the first country to authorize a Covid-19 vaccine based on large-scale clinical trials, when it gave the green light to the American doctor’s photo.
Pfizer
and his German partner
BioNTech
on December 2.
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The approval of the vaccine at AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford could make a big difference in helping the UK fight the coronavirus pandemic and lift the severe restrictions on social distancing that were implemented before Christmas.
Senior politician Michael Gove told Sky News on Monday that if the vaccine is approved and the launch is planned, it may be possible to lift tough restrictions.
About 24 million people in England, including all of London, now live under the strictest level of restrictions, including a “stay at home” order. The United Kingdom registered 53,135 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday.
If approved, the AstraZeneca-Oxford University homemade shot would provide UK domestic capacity for vaccine production.
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The vaccine candidate is also cheaper and easier to transport and store than the one from Pfizer and BioNTech. The vaccine should be stored at very low temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to the required storage of the British vaccine at normal refrigerator temperatures.
Although the vaccine may soon be launched in the UK, it could be February before it is approved in much of Europe.
Noël Wathion, deputy executive director of the European Medicines Authority, the European Union’s medicines regulator, told Belgian media on Tuesday that the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine was unlikely to be approved in the EU next month. Wathion said the drug company has not yet filed a lawsuit with the regulator.