This illustration picture taken in Paris on November 23, 2020 shows a syringe and a bottle reading “Covid-19 Vaccine” next to AstraZeneca company and University of Oxford logos. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images) JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images
A third COVID-19 vaccine is nearing approval, bringing the medical community closer to a full-powered response to the pandemic that continues to rage across the world.
The vaccine, from AstraZeneca and Oxford University, is expected to be approved for use in the United Kingdom by Tuesday. The Financial Times on Sunday suggested that the vaccine, which was developed in the UK, could be rolled out in the country within the week.
This fall, the vaccine hit speed bumps in its development, with a halted Phase III trial, communication issues with the FDA, and uncertain results. Patched-together trial results found an efficacy rate around 62 percent when both doses were administered, though results released earlier this month suggested that a half-dose followed by a full-dose months later had a 90 percent efficacy rate.
“This was unplanned, it was unexpected, but it might be a very important serendipitous finding. It is possible, and this is perhaps the most likely explanation, that by giving a low dose of the vaccine early on, the body doesn’t mount an immune response against the vector because this is a virus vector delivered vaccine,” Dr. Richard Horton, the editor-in-chief of The Lancet, told CNBC in early December.
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The company’s CEO said on Sunday that new trials suggest it will be just as effective as the already approved vaccines.
The AstraZeneca vaccine holds several distinct advantages over the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which have already begun roll-out in the United States. The FDA won’t rule on the vaccine before next week, but the US government reached an agreement back in May to buy 300 million doses for $1.2 billion if it’s approved.
The cost of the vaccine is one of its two game-changing attributes. AstraZeneca plans on selling the vaccine at-cost in perpetuity, which puts it at just $4 a dose. It also does not have to be stored with special deep-freezing refrigeration, which distinguishes it from Pfizer’s vaccine. Both the vaccine’s price and the fact that it can be stored at standard pharmaceutical temperatures and transported without fear of spoiling mean that it will not only help supplement the need for vaccines in the United States and Europe, but it will also be the go-to vaccine for the developing world.
Further, the AstraZeneca vaccine is said to be effective against the “mutant” strain of COVID-19 that has been responsible for the large spike in infections in the UK over the last month.
