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* Britain has ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine
* Astra hails important day after questions over trial
results
* Britain to prioritise first shots over boosters
(Adds quote and context)
By Alistair Smout
LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Britain on Wednesday became the
first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine
developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca as it
battles a major winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious
variant of the virus.
Britain has already ordered 100 million doses of the
vaccine, and the government said it had accepted the
recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to grant emergency authorisation.
The approval is a vindication for a shot seen as essential
for mass immunisations in the developing world as well as in
Britain, but one that has been dogged by questions about its
trial data that make it unlikely to be approved very soon in the
European Union or the United States.
"The NHS (National Health Service) will be able to deliver
these shots into people's arms at the speed at which it can be
manufactured," Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News.
"I am also now, with this approval this morning, highly
confident that we can get enough vulnerable people vaccinated by
the spring that we can now see our route out of this pandemic."
He said hundreds of thousands of doses would be available to
administer in Britain next week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the approval a "triumph
for British science".
The vaccine has been found in trials to be less effective
than one developed by Pfizer of the United States and BioNTech
of Germany but, crucially for countries with more basic health
infrastructure, can be stored and transported under normal
refrigeration, rather than at -70 degrees Celsius (-94
Fahrenheit).
TRIAL QUESTIONS
AstraZeneca said the authorisation was for a two-dose
regimen, and Hancock said the MHRA would set out more details on
dosing later on Wednesday.
AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said the vaccine
"has been shown to be effective, well-tolerated, simple to
administer and is supplied by AstraZeneca at no profit".
He also told BBC radio: "Our belief at this point is that
this vaccine should be effective against the (new, more
contagious) variant."
AstraZeneca's late-stage trials showed 62% for participants
given two full doses several weeks apart - above the 50% usually
considered adequate by regulators - but 90% for a smaller
sub-group given a half dose and then a full dose.
AstraZeneca did not specify which dose regime had been
approved, but researchers said approval was the most important
thing.
"To get out of this debacle, there is no alternative to
having a significant majority of the population carrying a high
level of neutralising antibodies. With today’s announcement that
comes within our grasp," said Danny Altmann, a professor of
immunology at Imperial College London.
"I suspect this will speed things by several months. An
immune population by the spring starts to look feasible."
The pandemic has already killed 1.7 million people around
the world, sown chaos through the global economy and upended
normal life for billions since it began in Wuhan, China, a year
ago.
Britain and South Africa in particular are grappling with
new variants of the coronavirus, which the government and
scientists say are more contagious. Many countries have
responded by banning passenger flights and blocking trade.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout in London, additional reporting by
Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle and Kate Kelland
in London; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Kevin Liffey)
