Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine approved by UK regulator
Vital vaccine needs only normal refrigeration and is easily transportable
The Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved by the UK medicines regulator, raising hopes of a rapid scale-up of vaccination against Covid-19 within days, using just a single shot in order to get as many vulnerable people protected as possible.
The approval of the vaccine by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) after weeks of examining the trial data was greeted with excitement and relief by experts. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine currently in use needs storage at -70C and is hard to deploy. Because the Oxford vaccine needs only normal refrigeration at 2-8C and is easily transported from UK factories, it will not have to be kept in central hospital and community hubs, making the rollout to GP practices and care homes swift.
Read the original article at The Guardian