UK approves Oxford University/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

(Sharecast News) - The Oxford University/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, with vaccinations set to begin early in the New Year.
AstraZeneca said on Wednesday that the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has provided authorisation for emergency supply of Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, formerly AZD1222, for the immunisation of people over the age of 18.

Unlike the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine, which was approved at the start of December and needs to be stored at -70C, the AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at normal refrigerated conditions for at least six months, making the rollout much simpler.

The pharmaceuticals company said clinical trials had shown that administration of two doses with an interval of between four and 12 weeks was safe and effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations more than 14 days after the second dose.

AstraZeneca is aiming to supply millions of doses in the first quarter as part of an agreement with the government to supply up to 100m in total.

Chief executive officer Pascal Soriot said: "Today is an important day for millions of people in the UK who will get access to this new vaccine. It has been shown to be effective, well-tolerated, simple to administer and is supplied by AstraZeneca at no profit."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK now has enough vaccines to vaccinate the entire population.

Shore Capital said: "Overall, this is another positive day in the fight against Covid-19 and particularly the new finding that individuals have some degree of protection two weeks after the first dose of AZD1222.

"We've always argued that this vaccine could be the most important in ending the pandemic, given its much lower price and ease of storage and distribution (two features it shares with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in all fairness). For many developing countries, buying, storing and distributing mRNA vaccines isn't feasible and so the adenovirus-vector candidates will be much more important in those countries.

"For the UK, AZD1222 is also disproportionately important given the government has ordered 100 million doses of this candidate and so it was the vaccine that was most backed. It could be that tens of millions of people will have received at least one dose of AZD1222 by the end of Q1 2021. As such, today's approval is a big milestone, but the hard work starts now."