E-Paper
UK asks regulator to assess vaccine
The letter asks the MHRA to assess the vaccine for authorisation under Regulation 174 of the Human Medicines Regulations, which enables the temporary supply.
The UK government has requested Britain’s medicines regulator to assess the suitability of Oxford and AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for temporary supply, as soon as the makers submit the necessary safety, quality and efficacy data.
The UK will be one of the first countries to receive the vaccine, if authorised, with AstraZeneca expecting to have up to 4mn doses ready by the end of the year and 40mn by the end of March 2021, the deparment of health and social care said in a release.
The UK was the first country to sign an agreement with Oxford University and AstraZeneca, securing access to 100mn doses of the prospective vaccine. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency confirmed the government’s request and said public safety “will always come first”.
Britain’s health secretary Matt Hancock said, “We have formally asked the regulator to assess the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, to understand the data and determine whether it meets rigorous safety standards. This letter is an important step towards deploying a vaccine as quickly as safely possible.”
The letter asks the MHRA to assess the vaccine for authorisation under Regulation 174 of the Human Medicines Regulations, which enables the temporary supply.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Covid-19 of patients categorised as ‘Indian’ in official figures in the UK crossed the grim milestone of 1,000 on Friday, making the community the worst-hit among non-whites.
Germany hit an unwelcome milestone in the pandemic on Friday, ticking above a million confirmed cases. The country’s disease control officials said Germany’s 16 states reported 22,806 cases overnight for a total since the start of the outbreak of 1,006,394.
Despite the high number of infections, Germany has seen fewer deaths than many other European countries, with 15,586 - compared with more than 50,000 in Britain, Italy and France, for example.
