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* Britain to fund trials of adapted vaccine
* Oxford scientists say Beta variant is a priority
* Health minister to host G7 summit in Oxford
(Recasts following speech)
By Alistair Smout
LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Britain is in talks with
AstraZeneca for additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine
that will have been modified to better target the Beta
coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, health
minister Matt Hancock said on Wednesday.
Britain has previously secured 100 million doses of the
vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford and licenced to
AstraZeneca.
"We've started commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca to
secure a variant vaccine: future supplies of the Oxford
AstraZeneca vaccine that have been adapted to tackle the B.1.351
variant first identified in South Africa," Hancock said in a
speech at the university.
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.
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.
Hancock's speech came before he hosts a summit of Group of
Seven (G7) health ministers in Oxford, which starts on Thursday.
He said that Britain had hit the milestone of giving
three-quarters of adults a first COVID-19 vaccine dose and
nearly half the population has received two doses of vaccine.
Britain has so far reported 904 cases of the Beta variant in
total.
By contrast, in South Africa there is an average of 3,745
new cases each day, and only around 1 million out of a target of
40 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Hancock did not say if the vaccines under negotiation would
be donated or kept for use domestically.
Earlier AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot
said he was working with governments on increasing their pledged
vaccine donations through the COVAX vaccine-sharing mechanism.
Hancock said AstraZeneca, which has pledged not to make a
profit from vaccines during the pandemic, had released half a
billion doses of the shot for global supply so far.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout in London, additional reporting by
Olivia Kumwenda in Johannesburg; Editing by Aurora Ellis and
Clelia Oziel)
