LONDON – AstraZeneca said on Thursday it expects to have a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine ready by the fall, as drugmakers respond to concerns about emerging variants of the disease that are more transmissible or resistant to existing vaccines.
The Anglo-Swedish company, which makes a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, said it was working with the university’s scientists to adapt the shot to combat new variants. Researchers started work months ago when the variants were first detected, said Mene Pangalos, head of bio-pharmaceutical research for AstraZeneca.
“We are moving fast and we have a number of different versions in the works that we are going to choose when we move to the clinic,” Pangalos said during a conference with reporters.
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The comment comes as CEO Pascal Soriot defended the company’s efforts to develop the production of the shot amid criticism from the European Union and a preliminary study that raised concerns about the capability. of the vaccine to combat a variant of COVID-19 first discovered in South Africa. .
Although the vaccination of the vaccine was not perfect, regulators in a number of countries have found that the vaccine is safe and effective, and AstraZeneca will produce 100 million doses this month, Soriot said. Only a handful of vaccines have been allowed for widespread use out of hundreds that started a year ago, he noted.
Syringes and a package of the AstraZeneca vaccine are ready to wait at the fourth vaccination center in Berlin at Tegel Airport, Germany, on Wednesday 10 February 2021.
(Kay Nietfeld / Pool via AP)
“One hundred million doses in February means 100 million vaccinations, which means hundreds of thousands of serious infections being avoided, and it also means thousands of deaths being avoided,” Soriot said.
The EU shook hands with AstraZeneca last month after the company cut off the initial delivery of the vaccine to the block due to production problems.
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Although the European Medicines Agency has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use by anyone over 18, some European countries, including France and Germany, have recommended that people over 65 not receive the shot due to limited information on its effectiveness in aging. people.
Just this week, researchers released preliminary results from a small-scale study in South Africa that found that the vaccine did little to prevent mild to moderate cases of the disease caused by the variety in the country. The study also looked only at healthy young people.
But Soriot stressed that the vaccine is very good at preventing serious diseases and death, which is the main goal.
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“We can get lost in a lot of detail about this and that, but you have to look at the whole thing,” Soriot said. ‘And the whole picture is that today we have a vaccine that has been approved by several important regulators. All these scientific questions were judged by the regulators. … This month we are going to produce 100 million doses, in April 200 million doses. “