Will the world have another ‘safe and effective’ vaccine against the new coronavirus later this year? UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is hopeful. Commenting on the progress of the COVID-19 vaccine, Johnson said Monday that he felt an AstraZeneca project should be on the brink of one.
“I went to see the Oxford scientists at the Jenner Institute, the AstraZeneca team, amazing what they’re doing. You know you really feel like they should be on edge, but it has to be properly tested,” Johnson said. .
The COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Oxford University scientists in collaboration with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is the most advanced in the testing process, according to a report in ‘The times‘. It could receive the necessary clearances by Christmas in December, the newspaper reported.
If approved by regulators, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is said to be in a position to start mass vaccination almost immediately. A full adult vaccine rollout program could take six months or less after approval, a source told the newspaper, according to reports. “We are looking at about six months and it is likely to be much shorter than that,” said a government source.
The UK government has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine once it is ready for deployment and the doses are being manufactured before they have been shown to be successful in saving time once it passes all regulatory stages.
Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Trial in India
The Serum Institute of India initiated the final stage of the clinical trial of the experimental vaccine at the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc. In India last month. The Pune-based drug maker has signed an agreement with British-Swedish company AstraZeneca to manufacture the COVID-19 candidate vaccine, developed by Oxford University for low- and middle-income countries. More than 1,600 candidates between the ages of 18 and 55 participated in the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine phase II clinical trial in India.
The COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by the Jenner Institute, a part of the Nuffield Medicine Department at the University of Oxford, showed a positive result in its initial trial. According to a report published in the British medical journal, The lancet, the COVID-19 vaccine produced a dual immune response in people ages 18 to 55.
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