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Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca as it battles a large winter surge fueled by a highly contagious new variant of the virus.
“The government today accepted the recommendation of the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorize the use of the Covid-19 vaccine from the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca,” the Health Ministry said.
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The pandemic has already killed 1.7 million people worldwide, wreaked havoc on the global economy and disrupted the normal lives of billions since it began in Wuhan, China, a year ago.
Britain and South Africa in particular are grappling with new variants of the coronavirus, which the government and scientists say are more contagious; many countries have responded by banning passenger flights and blocking trade.
AstraZeneca and other developers have said that they are studying the impact of the new variant, but hope that their shots will be effective against it.
The regulatory backing is a welcome boost for AstraZeneca and the Oxford team, who have been accused of a lack of clarity on late-stage trial results.
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