Pascal Soriot, from AstraZeneca, says the researchers believe the injection will be effective against a new variant of the virus

LONDON – The head of pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine with broad expectation of approval by UK authorities this week, said on Sunday that the researchers believe the injection will be effective against a new variant of the virus, causing a rapid rise in infections in Britain.

AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot also told the Sunday Times that researchers who develop their vaccine have found a “winning formula”, making the injection as effective as rival candidates.

Some have expressed concern that the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being developed with the University of Oxford, may not be as good as the one made by Pfizer which is already being distributed in the UK and other countries. Partial results suggest that the injection of AstraZeneca is about 70% effective in preventing disease by coronavirus infection, compared to the 95% effectiveness reported by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

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“We think we have discovered the winning formula and how to achieve effectiveness that, after two doses, is up to everyone,” said Soriot. “I can’t say any more because we are going to publish at some point.”

Britain’s government says its drug regulator is reviewing final data from AstraZeneca’s phase three clinical trials. The Times and others reported that the go-ahead could go until Thursday, and vaccines could begin to be launched to the UK public in the first week of January.

Asked about the effectiveness of the vaccine against the new variant of coronavirus that spreads in the UK, Soriot said: “So far, we think the vaccine must remain effective. But we can’t be sure, so let’s try this out. “

British authorities blamed the new strain of the virus for rising infection rates across the country. They said the variant is much more transmissible, but emphasize that there is no evidence that it makes people more ill.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson sounded an urgent alarm about the variant days before Christmas, saying that the new version of the virus was spreading rapidly and that travel and collection plans should be canceled in millions to contain the spread of the virus.

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Since then, officials have placed growing areas of the country – affecting about 24 million people, or 43% of the population – at the strictest level of restrictions. Non-essential stores were closed, restaurants and pubs can only operate to take away and no internal socializing is allowed.

Many countries quickly blocked travel from the UK, but since then, cases of the new variant have also been reported in a dozen locations around the world.

Public health officials said on December 24 that more than 600,000 people received the first of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

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Britain recorded an additional 30,501 positive cases of COVID-19 and a further 316 deaths on Sunday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 70,752. Many hospitals are under pressure, including the largest hospital in Wales, which issued an urgent appeal on Saturday for health teams or medical students to help care for patients with coronavirus in intensive care.

The health council that runs the University Hospital of Wales said on Sunday that the situation had improved, but its intensive care unit remains extremely busy.