A modified version of AstraZeneca (AZN.L)’s COVID-19 vaccine adapted for the control of a coronavirus variant first documented in South Africa may be ready by the end of 2021, an official of AstraZeneca in Austria said in an interview published on Sunday.
Sarah Walters, AstraZeneca’s country manager in Austria, told the Kurier newspaper that studies so far indicate that the existing AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective against the more contagious variant first documented in South Africa, “is too small to draw final conclusions “.
“Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have started adapting the vaccine for the South African variant and we expect it to be ready by the end of the year should it be necessary,” Walters told the Courier.
Walters blamed the challenges – including delaying delivery of the AstraZeneca shot in the European Union – for the ‘complex process’ of producing a vaccine, coupled with the huge demand arising from the coronavirus pandemic. read more
“We had to work without keeping an inventory in reserve. As a result, we could not compensate for unexpected events,” she said. “We are confident that we will live up to our commitment to deliver 300 million doses to the European Union this year.”
The Courier interview did not directly address ongoing investigations into health care over the AstraZeneca shot. The EU has put a warning label on the vaccine about its possible link to extremely rare blood clots, Denmark has stopped using the vaccine completely and Britain has advised people under 30 to get another type of vaccine. read more
Asked about “thousands” of people in Austria canceling their appointments for AstraZeneca shots, Walters said the company’s plan was “to continue to provide transparent information on efficacy and safety to doctors so that they can adequately treat people” inform “about benefits and risks. .
British and European medicine regulators have said that the overall benefits of using the vaccine outweigh any risks of rare clotting.
Our standards: the principles of the Thomson Reuters Trust.