More hope for the coronavirus vaccine as the UK pharmaceutical giant has made millions of second hit doses

British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has started producing millions of doses of a new coronavirus vaccine that could be available early next year.

Roger Connor, president of global vaccines at GSK, revealed that mass production of the vaccine was already underway and was now ready to move to the final stage of trials.

It comes after Pfizer gave the world new hope for a vaccine when it announced that its experimental injection was more than 90 percent effective in preventing disease.

The UK has bought 40 million doses of the jab that could be applied to the most vulnerable before Christmas.

And last night it emerged that tens of millions of UK-made coronavirus vaccines will be ready for production by the end of the year, says a professor overseeing the trial.

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Connor said: “We are already manufacturing millions of doses.

“We have all the resources and we are on the move – in fact, we were celebrating the commissioning of our facilities in Belgium the week before last.

“You can imagine the sense of pride that the people who work on it create. They are completely excited because they know they are going to make a difference.”

GSK has pledged to produce 1 billion doses of its jab next year, reports the Mail on Sunday.

He previously said that he was targeting formal approval in the “first half of 2021.”

Professor Andrew Pollard, lead investigator for the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine trial, was “optimistic” about getting the jab approved by Christmas.

His team’s work was a “miracle” done at “record speed,” he said, adding that the vaccine was about to show “efficacy.”

Professor Pollard said that the Oxford vaccine will be ten times cheaper than the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and easier to administer because it doesn’t have to be stored at temperatures below -70 ° C.

The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group told the Sun: “Ours are stored at refrigerator temperature.”

Researchers around the world are racing to develop and launch a Covid-19 vaccine for mass use.

Professor Pollard said: “We are optimistic that we will be able to demonstrate effectiveness by the end of the year.

“We have worked tirelessly all year and we are eager to see the results in the coming months.”

AstraZeneca will deliver the vaccine on a non-profit basis, he added.

The Government has placed an order for 100 million doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca prick, which is believed to cost £ 2.23 per dose.

He also ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two injections believed to cost £ 29.47.