Northern Ireland

British government agrees access to 190 million doses from three separate `promising' vaccine trials

The British government has signed deals for 90 million doses of promising Covid-19 vaccines, with more in the pipeline. Picture by David Cheskin/PA Wire
The British government has signed deals for 90 million doses of promising Covid-19 vaccines, with more in the pipeline. Picture by David Cheskin/PA Wire The British government has signed deals for 90 million doses of promising Covid-19 vaccines, with more in the pipeline. Picture by David Cheskin/PA Wire

A CORONAVIRUS vaccine trialled by Oxford University appears to be safe with few side effects in what has been heralded as a "very encouraging" crucial step by scientists.

Professor Fiona Watt of the Medical Research Council, which helped to fund the trial, said "the much anticipated next milestone will be the results of the larger trials that are happening now to find out if the vaccine will protect people from the virus".

She said it was "truly remarkable how fast this vaccine has progressed" and it was "very encouraging that it shows no safety concerns and evokes strong immune responses".

Among the vaccine's "very manageable" side effects which were treated with paracetamol were tenderness at the injection site and headaches in some patients.

Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca CEO said it hopes to deliver the coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, depending on the infection rate, with the pharma giant manufacturing it "in parallel to running the clinical trials".

"Our hope is that we can actually start delivering the vaccine before the end of the year, and how early before the end of the year depends really on infection rates in the community."

Dr Andrew Pollard, of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said his team did not feel under pressure to finalise its vaccine saying they are "absolutely committed to conducting rigorous clinical trials".

The British government, which has an agreement for 100 million doses of the Oxford University vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca, yesterday announced it has signed deals for 90 million doses of other promising coronavirus vaccines also being developed.

The vaccines are being researched by an alliance between the pharmaceutical companies BioNtech and Pfizer as well as the firm Valneva.

All three for which access has been agreed all use three different approaches, with the Oxford researchers using a genetically engineered virus, the 30 million doses of the BioNtech/Pfizer vaccine injecting part of the coronavirus' genetic code and the 60 million doses of the Valneva using an inactive version of the coronavirus.

Professor Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology, University of Nottingham, said"whilst encouraging there is still a long way to go before we can herald the arrival of a successful coronavirus vaccine".

Alex Harris, of health research charity Wellcome Trust said "meeting the global demand of billions of doses will require more than one vaccine".

"We must also be prepared for some candidates to fail in the later stages and be realistic about time-frames for manufacturing and rollout.

"Covid-19 is a global challenge: no one is safe until everyone is safe."