(Reuters) – Oxford scientists are preparing to rapidly produce new versions of their vaccine to combat the most contagious variants of emerging COVID-19 discovered in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
The team behind the Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc vaccine is conducting feasibility studies to reconfigure the technology, said the newspaper bit.ly/3o1DNRf, citing a confirmation from the University of Oxford.
Scientists were working to estimate how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform, the report said.
AstraZeneca transferred to Oxford for comments. An Oxford spokesman said the university is carefully assessing the impact of new variants on vaccine immunity and evaluating the processes needed for the rapid development of adjusted COVID-19 vaccines, if needed.
Separately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the country’s drug regulator will be ready and able to approve new versions of the COVID-19 vaccines designed to combat new variants of the coronavirus that may appear.
Recent laboratory tests have indicated that the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE is likely to work against the UK variant that is spreading around the world.
BioNTech said it plans to publish a more detailed analysis of the likely effect of its vaccine on the South African variant within a few days.
AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc and CureVac NV are also testing whether their respective shots will protect against rapidly spreading variants.
Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot