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Stocks of vaccines against the coronavirus could be depleted from January, revealed the former Secretary of Health.
On Saturday morning Jeremy Hunt revealed that the UK could run out of the vaccine at the end of January and new stocks are expected to arrive in March.
Currently, tens of thousands of Britons are receiving the vaccine every day since the launch began earlier this month.
However, Mr Hunt, who now chairs the Commons Health and Welfare Committee, said that if the new Oxford-AstraZeneca is approved before the end of the year, the implementation schedule could be maintained.
During the BBC Radio 4 Today show, Mr. Hunt said: It will make a big difference because the doses we have of the Pfizer vaccine will keep us going until the end of January and I think we won’t get another shipment until March.
“So if we could have the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine ready for use in January, then we could keep implementation at the current rate.”
The Daily Telegraph has reported that senior Whitehall sources believe the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will authorize it on December 28 or 29.
Professor Martin Marshall, President of the Royal College of GPs, has said that the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will speed up implementation in nursing homes.
He told BBC Radio 4 Today: “Right now we are dealing with this Pfizer vaccine, which is difficult.
“Assuming we are going to get approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is much more familiar because it is much more like the flu vaccine, I think we will be able to implement it at a much faster rate, but certainly in the future. We expect all nursing homes to be covered for the next few weeks and months. “
The MHRA has said that its review of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine is still ongoing.
A MHRA spokeswoman said: “Our ongoing review of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is ongoing.
“Our process to approve vaccines is designed to ensure that any licensed Covid-19 vaccine meets the expected high standards of safety, quality and efficacy.
“Any vaccine must undergo robust clinical trials according to international standards, with oversight provided by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and no vaccine would be authorized to supply in the UK unless meet the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy are met. “
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