Second Covid-19 vaccine approved for use in UK
The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab is the second vaccine against Covid-19 approved for rollout across the UK
Last updated 20th Apr 2021
A vaccine designed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use in the UK.
Mass rollout of the vaccine will start on 4 January 2021.
Confirming the news, Health secretary Matt Hancock said the vaccine offered a “route out of this.”
He said: “I am now, with this approval this morning, highly confident that we can get enough vulnerable people vaccinated by the spring that we can now see the route out of this pandemic.”
"The vaccine provides a route out"
Referring to the tough weeks ahead as cases around the UK continue to rise, the health secretary said: “The vaccine provides that route out. We have all just got to hold our nerve over the weeks to come.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “It is truly fantastic news – and a triumph for British science – that the @UniofOxford/@AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use.
“We will now move to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.”
The UK has ordered enough doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab to vaccinate 50 million people.
Unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech jab which has to be stored at -70 degrees, the Oxford vaccine can be stored in a standard fridge, which will allow mass roll out to care homes and GP surgeries.
Vulnerable groups will be first to be vaccinated, but eventually everyone, including those under-50, will be offered the jab.
The jab is "safe and effective"
England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty assured the jab is “safe and effective”.
He said: “It is very good news that the independent regulator has now authorised for use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Speaking on the rollout of the vaccine, AstraZeneca’s chief executive Pascal Soriot said: “We will start delivering this week – maybe today or tomorrow we will be shipping our first doses.
“The vaccination will start next week and we will get to one million a week and beyond that very rapidly.
“We can go to two million. In January we will already possibly be vaccinating several million people and by the end of the first quarter we are going to be in the tens of millions already.”