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Photographer: Vincenzo Pinto / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Vincenzo Pinto / AFP / Getty Images
The UK is poised to administer the first injections of a Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca Plc and the Oxford University on Monday, in a race against a more rapidly spreading variant of coronavirus that has led to new lockdowns across much of the country.
UK Regulators authorized the AstraZeneca-Oxford takeover last week, marking its first approval worldwide. It is the second coronavirus injection authorized for emergency use in Britain, after one of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE received the approval in early December.
The UK has moved faster on vaccine approvals than the US or the European Union, clearing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine first and giving the AstraZeneca-Oxford product the green light despite clinical trials involving a smaller number of participants and that were complicated by a dosage error. A regulatory decision to extend the interval between doses of the two-shot vaccines up to 12 weeks has raised more questions.
Britain is stepping up its vaccine campaign as coronavirus infections rise across the country, with more than 50,000 new cases reported daily. A new strain which is estimated to be up to 70% more transmissible is fueling the resurgence of the pandemic. Schools have been closed in much of the country and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has He warned that stricter restrictions could be on the way.
How the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine works
The viral vector vaccine uses a harmless virus to carry genetic material that triggers an immune response to the coronavirus.
Sources: University of Oxford, AstraZeneca, Bloomberg research
More than a million people in Britain have received injections of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Welfare. More than 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford will be available from Monday and delivered to hospitals in the first few days. The UK is aiming to expand the number of vaccination sites to over 1,000, with up to 100 more hospitals and 180 general practitioner-led services online this week.
Read Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker
When asked about the UK’s plans for mass vaccines, Johnson did not offer any details on how the country could deliver 2 million vaccines a week. The government has previously said it plans to set up mass immunization centers as the National Health Service seeks to meet the goal of vaccinating all vulnerable Britons by spring.
“Everybody is working hard to do this,” Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday. “We make hope we will be able to make tens of millions over the next three months. “
Other approvals
Although the recently approved vaccine has shown less effectiveness than that of Pfizer-BioNTech in clinical trials, it has some key advantages: It is cheaper and easier to transport and store, and only requires refrigerator temperatures rather than deep freezing. That makes it crucial to the broader global vaccination campaign, and countries like Argentina and India has followed the UK in authorizing the use of the injection.
The NHS is administering the first injections under a Medicines approved two-injection regimen and Health care Products Regulatory Agency. The second can be given up to 12 weeks later, as the UK seeks to maximize the number of vulnerable people who receive the first serving, which provides some protection against infection.
The regulator has yet to release full data to support its decision to opt for such a regimen, which has drawn opposition from the British Medical Association.
“It is blatantly and blatantly unfair for tens of thousands of our highest risk patients to now attempt to reschedule their appointments,” Richard Vautrey, chairman of the association’s General Practitioners Committee, said in a statement.
