LONDON (AP) – #Britain on #Wednesday authorized the emergency use of a second COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first country to greenlight an easier-to-use injection that its developers hope will become the first. “#Vaccine for the world.”
The #Department of #Health indicated that it had accepted the recommendation of the #Regulatory #Agency for #Medicines and #Medical #Products to authorize the vaccine developed by the #University of #Oxford and the #British pharmaceutical company #AstraZeneca.
#Britain has purchased 100 million doses of the vaccine and plans to start its administration in the next few days. #Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK have already received a different vaccine, developed by the #American pharmaceutical company #Pfizer and its #German ally #BioNTech.
#AstraZeneca CEO #Pascal #Soriot said “today is an important day for millions of people in the UK who will have access to this new vaccine. #It has been shown to be effective, well tolerated and easier to administer, and it is supplied by #AstraZeneca on a non-profit basis. “
“#We would like to thank our colleagues at #AstraZeneca, the #University of #Oxford, the #British government and the tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials,” he added.
The partial results of the studies in almost 24,000 people in #Great #Britain, #Brazil and #South #Africa suggest that the injection is safe and has an effectiveness of around 70% in preventing illness from a coronavirus infection.
The effectiveness is not as high as that of other potential vaccines, but #Soriot recently told the #Sunday #Times that he was confident that the vaccine will show that it is as effective as that of competing companies.
#Coronavirus vaccines have typically been given in two doses, an initial injection and a booster given about three weeks later.
#But the #British government said that with the #AstraZeneca vaccine the priority would be to give a single dose to as many people as possible, which is believed to offer enormous protection against the virus. #He indicated that the highest-risk population would be injected first, and that everyone would receive a second dose about 12 weeks after the initial injection.
“The campaign will start on #January 4 and really pick up speed in the first weeks of next year,” #Britain’s #Health #Secretary #Matt #Hancock told #Sky #News.
#Several countries are expected to depend on the #Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to its low cost, availability, and ease of use. #It can be kept in refrigerators instead of the deep freezers that other vaccines usually require. The company has said it will sell each dose for $ 2.50 and plans to make about 3 billion doses before the end of 2021.
“#We have a vaccine for the world,” said one of the study leaders, #Dr #Andrew #Pollard of the #University of #Oxford.
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https://www.chron.com/news/article/Reino-Unido-aprueba-uso-de-segunda-vacuna-contra-15835436.php
#approves #COVID19 #vaccine