LONDON (Reuters) – The United Kingdom on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronovirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, with the expectation that rapid action would lead to an increase in infections driven by highly infectious infections. Virus.
The government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, said it accepted a recommendation from the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to provide an emergency authorization.
The approval is seen as a necessary vaccine for large-scale vaccination in developing countries as well as in the UK, but it does not remove doubts about test data, making it unlikely that it would be the European Union or the United States. Will pass so quickly in America. .
“The NHS (National Health Service) will be able to take these vaccines into people’s arms at the speed at which it can be manufactured,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News.
“Now, with this approval this morning, I am confident that we can vaccinate enough sensitive people at the time of spring that we can get out of this epidemic now.”
Johnson called the approval “the triumph of British science”.
Hancock said hundreds of thousands of doses would be available in the United Kingdom next week, already delivering a vaccine developed by American Pfizer and German BioNotech.
The Brazilian government has an agreement with AstraZeneca to supply vaccine supplements to the country and the subsequent local production of preservatives by the Oswaldo Cruise Foundation (FerroCruz). There is still no request for registration of a vaccine or authority for emergency use with the National Health Monitoring Agency (Anvisa).
Tests have shown that the Oxford vaccine is less effective than the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, but it can be stored and transported at minus 70 degrees Celsius instead of normal refrigeration, rather than super-cooled – in countries with infrastructure Is the most basic.
India is determined to start operating the new vaccine next month – the world’s largest vaccine producer Serum Institute of India (SII) has already produced around 50 million doses. Chile is also interested.
The United Kingdom stood out with its accelerated approach to immunization from other Western countries, releasing the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine weeks before the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
In addition, on Wednesday, a British government advisory committee recommended a change of route: give the first dose of the coronovirus vaccine immediately so that more people could be given the second booster dose within the time period.
(Additional reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru, Kate Kelland in London, John Miller in Zurich and Emilio Parodi in Milan)
