News Report by Kamal Prabhakar UK Head Hello Mumbai News :

In a new development U.K. emerged as the first country in the World to approve coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

This comes as significant move for India, as Pune based Serum Institute of India has tied up with AstraZeneca to deploy the vaccine in the country

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency supply in the United Kingdom, with the first doses being released on Wednesday, 30 December to enable vaccinations to begin early in the New Year.

Notably, the ‘emergency use authorisation (EUA)’ is for the active immunisation of individuals of 18 years or older and recommends two doses with an interval of between four and 12 weeks. As per a statement released, this regimen was screened in clinical trials to be safe and effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations for more than 14 days following the second dose

According to a scientist connected to the approval process of new vaccines, the committee is expected to deliberate on the SII’s application on Wednesday and review the data on the basis of which the EUA was granted in the U.K. A nod from the regulators in the U.K. or the U.S. “works very favourably” for the SII, the scientist said.

Remarkably, 300 million priority individuals–healthcare workers, police personnel, those with co-morbid disease conditions are expected to be inoculated in the first half of the 2021.

Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the ‘Oxford vaccine’ doesn’t require sub-zero refrigeration and is reportedly more conducive to be distributed in India.

AstraZeneca aims to supply millions of doses in the first quarter as part of an agreement with the government to supply up to 100 million doses in total.

After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.

News Edit by K.V.Raman