UK medicines regulators have approved the Oxford University/ AstraZeneca vaccine raising hope for the vulnerable people to be protected against the new Covid-19 disease. Here is what we need to know about the new vaccine:
- Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has approved the vaccine after weeks of examining trial data from the experts.
- Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine which has already come out for use needs to be stored in a temperate -70C. This makes the vaccine very hard to deploy to places with warm temperatures.
- On the other hand, the vaccine which has been created by Oxford University needs to be stored in normal refrigeration at 2-8C. This will allow the vaccines to be transported and stored in all hospital facilities and community hubs around the UK.
- Vulnerable people will no longer need to depend on central hospitals with special facilities to store the Pfizer vaccine. This will enable a swift rollout of the vaccines to the ones who need them.
- The Oxford vaccination program aims to reach millions of people in high-risk categories from January 4.
- The new and stronger variant of Covid-19 has caused high rates of infections all around the nation. An urgent vaccination is required to bring the situation under control.
- The ease in storage and transportation of this vaccine will enable even street chemist shops to provide the locals with jabs.
- Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has advised the priority to be given to people with high risks and vulnerability.
- Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said, “rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness”.
AstraZeneca has also published a statement saying that they will make the vaccine available to the poorer countries at a low cost. With a bitter year ending, the news of these vaccines reflects hope for the new year ahead.
