In a statement, the UK government said the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) authorized the Oxford University / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after “rigorous clinical testing and a thorough analysis of the data by MHRA experts. ”
The vaccine met “strict standards for safety, quality and effectiveness,” the statement added.
“The NHS has a clear vaccine delivery plan and decades of experience in large-scale vaccination programs. It has already vaccinated hundreds of thousands of patients with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and its launch will continue. Now, the NHS will begin putting its extensive preparations programs into action to launch the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine. “
“Incredibly, we found that one of our dosing regimens can be about 90% effective and if this dosing regimen is used, more people can be vaccinated with the planned vaccine supply,” said Andrew Pollard, chief investigator at Oxford Vaccine Trial. in November.
The vaccine – developed at the University of Oxford in England – is significantly cheaper than the others and, crucially, it would be much easier to transport and distribute in developing countries than its rivals, since it does not need to be stored in freezing temperatures.
“I think it is the only vaccine that can be used in these locations at the moment,” Azra Ghani, head of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, told CNN.
The Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine can be kept in refrigerator temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least six months. Moderna’s vaccine should be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) – or in refrigerator temperatures for up to 30 days – and the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine should be stored at minus 75 degrees Celsius (minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit), and used within five days, once chilled to higher temperatures.
“Pfizer and Moderna require freezer storage, and that just doesn’t exist in many environments,” said Ghani.
“Cold chain” refrigeration is the standard storage used globally to deliver vaccines from central locations to local health clinics. The AstraZeneca vaccine is so far “the only one that can be definitely applied to these systems,” added Ghani.
Vaccines are based on different technologies. AstraZeneca’s offering – like the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik V – uses an adenovirus to transport coronavirus genetic fragments to the body.