LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Britain is in talks with Oxford
and AstraZeneca for additional doses of their COVID-19
vaccine that has been modified to better target the "beta"
coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, and it
will fund trials of the shots.
Britain has previously secured 100 million doses of the
vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford and licenced to
AstraZeneca, and the health ministry said the extra doses under
discussion would be tailored to target the B.1.351 variant.
South Africa put use of AstraZeneca's shot on hold in
February after data showed it gave minimal protection against
mild-to-moderate infection caused by the country's dominant
variant, now known as "beta" under a new World Health
Organization labelling system.
Oxford considers the variant top priority for vaccine
developers, and AstraZeneca has targeted the development of new
vaccines against variants by the autumn.
Britain has committed to funding trials for the new adapted
vaccine, which could be fast-tracked through the regulatory
process following new guidance in March.
Britain's health minister Matt Hancock is hosting a summit
of Group of Seven (G7) counterparts in Oxford later this week,
and he will use a speech on Wednesday to highlight Britain's
role in the Oxford-AstraZeneca project.
Hancock will also highlight that Britain is expected to hit
the milestone of giving three-quarters of adults a first
COVID-19 vaccine dose on Wednesday, the health ministry said.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Aurora Ellis)