The United Kingdom will increase the procurement of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company to 2 million doses per week by mid-month, The Times reported on Saturday, citing sources
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd January, 2021) The United Kingdom will increase the procurement of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company to 2 million doses per week by mid-month, The Times reported on Saturday, citing sources.
In late December, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock that AstraZeneca was ordered 100 million doses total, supposedly enough to cover the entire population. The plan was to supply 530,000 doses by the beginning of this coming week.
The newspaper cited a key member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team as saying that 1 million doses would be supplied instead, and the supply regimen would ultimately reach 2 million doses weekly by the third week of January.
Another source reportedly said that the supply chain was fragile, warning that the loss of even one batch would affect the vaccination campaign.
According to the report, the company is disappointed by the production pace of their vaccine for UK market, which is carried out by several contractors in the Oxfordshire and Staffordshire provinces, as well as a company in the Netherlands.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has shown an average effectiveness of 70.4 percent in clinical trials. The UK government approved its use on Wednesday, planning to launch the vaccination campaign on January 4.
