As the world eagerly awaits for the Coronavirus vaccine, a report in the British media has said that a major hospital in London has been asked to prepare the vaccine by early November. The hospital is planning to provide the first batch of Oxford Vaccine. According to the report, the vaccine is set to roll out from 2 November.
The Sun newspaper claims that the plan is constituted by the UK's National Health Service. Currently, a human clinical trial of this vaccine being developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca is underway. If COVID-19 vaccine is introduced in the UK from November 2, it would come as a relief for India as well.
Serum Institute of India (SII) has signed an agreement for 100 crore doses of this vaccine of AstraZeneca. SII is the world's largest vaccine producer.
Clinical trial stopped, preparation for vaccination begins in UK
The report claimed that all clinical trials in this UK hospital have been stopped. The resources and strategies for vaccination are ready and as soon as doctors, nurses and other frontline staff are prepared.
However, the report also mentions that the vaccine will be deployed only when it proves to be 'safe' and 'effective' in clinical trials and also requires the approval of an independent regulator.
Oxford Vaccine has been described as 'optimistic'.
How is it good news for India?
AstraZeneca has signed a deal with the Serum Institute to deliver a billion doses of its covid-19 vaccine. These 100 crore vaccines will be first provided to low and middle-income countries. Apart from this, AstraZeneca has also agreed to deliver 300 million doses from 'Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation' (CEPI) and Gavi.
SII produces 60 per cent of the world's vaccine and Gavi is also a large producer of a wide variety of vaccines. In such a situation, if the Oxford developed vaccine rolls out in the UK, then the chances of India getting the vaccine sooner will also increase. However, at the local level, the vaccine would require approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
AstraZeneca vaccine showed effective on the elderly people
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has achieved another milestone. In a recent report, the vaccine has found equally effective responses on the elderly, among those aged 18 to 55 years. According to a report in Financial Times, the vaccine produced protective antibodies and T cells in the body of the elderly.
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World expectations from AstraZeneca
The whole world has kept an eye on the vaccine being developed by Oxford. Reason for its high expectation is its trial process remaining transparent from the beginning compared to the rest of the companies and that AstraZeneca has conducted clinical trials in different countries rather than focusing trials on one group.
This will better test the effect of different strains of the vaccine. It is the vaccine frontrunner in the global race. Apart from this, American companies like Pfizer, Moderna are also ahead in the vaccine race. Five vaccines in China are also going through advanced stage trials.