New Delhi: The Chief Executive of AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company – Pascal Soriot on Sunday late night said that “Researchers believe the shot will be effective against a new strain of the coronavirus driving a rapid surge in infections in Britain.” AstraZeneca is one of the major drug-maker pharmaceutical companies in the world.
AstraZeneca is developing a coronavirus vaccine widely and expected to be approved by UK authorities this week.
Pascal Soriot further said that “Britain’s government says its medicines regulator is reviewing the final data from AstraZeneca’s phase three clinical trials. The Times and others have reported that the green light could come by Thursday and the vaccines can start to be rolled out in the UK’s market in the first week of January. We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else.”
So far, we think the vaccine should remain effective. But we can’t be sure, so we’re going to test that, Soriot – on the new strain of coronavirus in the UK.
Earlier some experts have raised concern that the AstraZeneca vaccine which is being developed with Oxford University, may not be as good as the one made by Pfizer already being distributed in the UK and other countries.
Partial results suggest that the AstraZeneca shot is about 70 percent effective for preventing illness from coronavirus infection compared to the 95 percent efficacy reported by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
Few days back Prime Minister of the UK Boris Johnson alerted the British people about the new variant days before Christmas, he said that the new version of the virus is spreading rapidly and plans to travel and gather must be cancelled for millions to curb the spread of the virus.
The largest hospital in Wales and The health board that runs University Hospital of Wales on Sunday said that “The situation has improved, but its critical care unit remains extremely busy.”
Public health officials of the UK said “On December 24 – more than 600,000 people had received the first of two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.”
Many countries had already restricted travelling to the UK due to the new strain of coronavirus and more than ten countries’ new strain of coronavirus has been detected.
Britain recorded more than 30 thousand coronavirus cases and claimed 316 deaths on Sunday. In the UK – Many hospitals appeal for the health care staff or medical students to help coronavirus patients in intensive care.
_Vinayak.Barot