Oxford did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Performance)
Oxford scientists are preparing to quickly produce new versions of their vaccine to combat emerging more contagious COVID-19 variants discovered in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
The team behind the Oxford vaccine and AstraZeneca Plc are conducting feasibility studies to reconfigure the technology, the newspaper said, citing a confirmation from Oxford University.
The scientists were estimating how quickly they could reconfigure their ChAdOx vaccine platform, the report said.
A university spokesperson told the newspaper that Oxford is carefully assessing the impact of new variants on vaccine immunity and evaluating the processes needed for the rapid development of custom COVID-19 vaccines.
Oxford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Separately, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the country’s drug regulator will be ready to approve new versions of COVID-19 vaccines designed to counteract new variants of the coronavirus that can occur.
(Except for the headline, this story was not processed by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)