UK govt welcomes Oxford Covid vaccine results; Health Secy sees normalcy by April 2021

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, new data released from the Oxford University's trial on Monday indicated that its vaccine candidate is 'highly effective'. Responding to Oxford vaccine results, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the news and said that he can see normal life returning from Easter 2021 (April).

Taking to Twitter, Oxford University on Monday said that the interim data shows that their vaccine candidate is 70.4 per cent effective and tests on two doses regiments show that it could be 90 per cent. Following the announcement, Hancock said that AstraZeneca, Oxford and the medicine regulator would have to study the results to see how best to administer the vaccine once it was found to be safe. 

READ | UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock Welcomes Oxford University's COVID Vaccine News

Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine raises hopes of normal life 

The UK Regulator on Monday also informed that it has received data from Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine candidate for approval. Outing further information, Matt Hancock added that once approval is granted to Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine candidate, NHS will be ready to deliver the vaccine. 

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Speaking about the recently released AZD1222 results released by the Oxford University, leading vaccinologist Sarah Gilbert said 'this announcement today takes us another step closer to the time when we can use vaccines to bring an end to the devastation caused by the virus.' Lead investigator Andrew Pollard of the Oxford University states, 'we have a vaccine for the world'. This vaccine will prevent severe disease and hospitalisation, he added. 

Andrew said, "The vaccine can be stored at fridge temperature. It can be distributed around the world using the usual immunisation distribution systems. We had a goal to have a vaccine that is accessible everywhere. We have actually managed to do that. This is an incredibly exciting moment for human health."

AstraZeneca on its vaccine results

Speaking about the latest results, AstraZeneca said, 'One dosing regimen (n=2,741) showed vaccine efficacy of 90% when AZD1222 was given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least one month apart, and another dosing regimen (n=8,895) showed 62% efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart.'

“The combined analysis from both dosing regimens (n=11,636) resulted in an average efficacy of 70%. All results were statistically significant (p<=0.0001). More data will continue to accumulate and additional analysis will be conducted, refining the efficacy reading and establishing the duration of protection.”

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The company further added that it has already started to prepare to submit data to authorities across the world that have the framework ready for the conditional or early approval, including Emergency Use Listing from the WHO for speedier availability in low-income countries. 

Rejoicing over the Oxford vaccine results, Prime Minister Boris Johnson lauded the announcement made by the company. Boris Johnson-led government has already placed an order of 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine and is also working to put in place the infrastructure for mass vaccination in more than 40 centres in the UK from December. 

Stephen Griffin, from the University of Leeds, added: “This is yet more excellent news and should be considered tremendously exciting. It has great potential to be delivered across the globe, achieving huge public health benefits.”

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