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The U.K. now has enough vaccine to cover the entire population after the AstraZeneca–Oxford COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use, said health secretary Matt Hancock in an interview on Wednesday.
The vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has been approved in the U.K., paving the way for widespread vaccinations with a homegrown shot that is cheaper and easier to transport and store than other vaccines.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the U.K. drug regulator, authorized the AstraZeneca–Oxford University vaccine for emergency use on Wednesday. It said in a statement: “The Government has today accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorize Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for use. ”
Hancock said in an interview with the BBC’s “Breakfast” show: “We’ve got enough of this vaccine on order to vaccinate the whole population — 100 million doses. Add that to the 30 million doses of Pfizer and that’s enough for two doses for the entire population.”
Shares in Cambridge, U.K.-based AstraZeneca AZN, -0.82% traded 3.3% higher in London on Tuesday.
The approval comes weeks after the U.K. became the first country to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine based on large-scale clinical trials, when it gave the green light to the shot from U.S. drug company Pfizer PFE, -0.22% and its German partner BioNTech BNTX, -2.36% on Dec. 2.
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Approving the vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford could make a huge difference in helping the U.K. battle the coronavirus pandemic, and lift the severe social distancing restrictions that were put in place before Christmas.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove told Sky News on Monday that if the vaccine was approved and the rollout goes to plan, it may be possible to lift tough restrictions.
Around 24 million people in England, including all of London, are now living under the strictest tier of restrictions, including a “stay-at-home” order. The U.K. recorded 53,135 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.
The homegrown AstraZeneca–Oxford University shot gives the U.K. domestic capacity for vaccine production.
Also read: AstraZeneca believes its coronavirus vaccine will be effective against new strain
The vaccine is also cheaper and easier to transport and store than the one from Pfizer and BioNTech. That vaccine must be kept at ultralow temperatures of -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), compared with the British vaccine’s required storage at normal refrigerator temperatures.
While the vaccine will be rolled out soon in the U.K., it could be February before it is approved in much of Europe.
Noël Wathion, the deputy executive director of the European Medicines Authority, the EU’s drug regulator, told Belgian press on Tuesday that it was unlikely that the AstraZeneca–Oxford University vaccine would be approved in the EU next month. Wathion said the drug company had yet to file an application with the regulator.
