LONDON – The UK has become the first country in the world to authorize the use of the Oxford University / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, and the government will adopt a new vaccination strategy focusing on giving the first possible dose to the greater number of people.
“The government today accepted the recommendation of the Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Health Products (MHRA) to authorize the use of the Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University / AstraZeneca,” said a spokesman for the British Department of Health and Social Care in a communicated on Wednesday. “This follows rigorous clinical testing and a thorough analysis of the data by experts from MHRA, who concluded that the vaccine met its strict standards for safety, quality and effectiveness.”
The authorization comes at the end of a month, when the United Kingdom also became the first country to authorize the use of the Pfizer vaccine, which has already been authorized by both the US and the EU.
In a change in the government’s strategy for administering vaccines, the launch of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine will follow a new approach advised by the UK’s Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee (JVCI) that largely prioritizes the administration of the first dose.
“Having studied the evidence for the Pfizer / BioNTech and Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccines, the JCVI recommended that the priority should be to give the first dose to the largest number of people in risk groups, rather than providing the two necessary doses over a period of time. possible time, “said the spokesman. “Everyone will still receive their second dose and this will happen within 12 weeks of the first. The second dose completes the course and is important for long-term protection ”.
Several experts said the new approach could help vaccinate more people in a short time.
“In my opinion, the evidence to delay the second dose of the vaccine to allow as many people as possible to get the first dose earlier, that’s clear,” said Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. “I have no doubt that this decision will save many lives. But everyone will still need a second dose to ensure that the protective effects of these vaccines last.”
Stephen Evans, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the move was “sensible”.
Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration and a board member of the US Pfizer, told USA Today earlier this month: “I feel strongly that we should get as many gunshots out as possible immediately. The reality is this . the dose is partially protective. “
Margaret Keenan, the first person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine outside clinical trials in the West earlier this month, had her second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine administered at a hospital in England on Tuesday.
The leading researchers behind the Oxford University AstraZeneca vaccine received the news as a “landmark” moment.
“Although this is just the beginning, we will begin to overcome the pandemic, protect health and economies when the vulnerable are vaccinated everywhere, as many as possible as quickly as possible,” Andrew Pollard, professor and chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, he said in a statement. According to the Oxford vaccine group, the newly authorized vaccine is “stable, easily manufactured, transported and stored at home refrigerator temperature”, which means that “it can be implanted very quickly”.
Although clinical trials published in The Lancet have shown that the AstraZeneca vaccine is 70% effective, compared to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are more than 94% effective, each requires colder temperatures than AstraZeneca / Oxford : The Pfizer vaccine requires a special freezer that keeps it stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit. and the Moderna vaccine can be stored at normal temperature in a domestic freezer.
“This vaccine is particularly stimulating because it can be easily administered in existing health systems around the world, stored in a refrigerator temperature and can use existing delivery mechanisms,” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome, a health care institution. London-based medical research charity.
As part of its joint partnership with AstraZeneca, the university said the vaccine will be available nonprofit worldwide – and reportedly at a lower cost. Based on various distributor agreements, the Oxford vaccine is available for $ 2.50 per dose, compared to $ 20 for the Pfizer vaccine and between $ 15 and $ 25 for the Modern vaccine, according to Associated Press.
AstraZeneca also has an agreement with the Serum Institute India to produce up to 1 billion doses of its vaccine for the low- and low-income countries of the world.
“The availability of a large number of doses both in the UK and, through various financing mechanisms, for low-income countries is of enormous importance,” said Evans.
The authorization comes at a time when the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in England this week surpassed the peak of the first wave in April, and the UK recorded a record number of daily coronavirus cases.