GET YOURSELF A VACCACCINO
THE OXFORD JAB WILL COST LESS THAN A CUP OF COFFEE
A COVID vaccine developed by Oxford university and AstraZeneca offers hope for millions of Britons after proving up to 90 per cent effective at stopping people developing symptoms of the disease.
The jab also appears to reduce the chances of patients becoming infected at all, and so should make them less likely to pass the virus on, researchers revealed.
It costs only £3 – about the price of a cup of coffee. And it can be stored and transported in normal fridges, in contrast to previously revealed vaccines which require -70C or -20C conditions.
The government, which has bought up 100million doses, suggested they could be rolled out from next month with the bulk of vaccinations in the new year.
The Duke of Cambridge was among the first to congratulate researchers, telling them in a video call: ‘Well done – I’m so pleased for all of you, I really am.’
Health secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘We are looking with high confidence that after Easter things can really start to get back to normal.’
The vaccine’s cost compares with £15 for the one made by Pfizer and £25 for Moderna’s treatment.
Both of those jabs were found to be about 95 per cent effective, while the overall success for the Oxford version was only about 70 per cent.
But the researchers explained that the results were not as disappointing as they might at first seem.
They said they had taken account of patients who developed mild Covid symptoms in their findings – and not a single person given their vaccine in trials had gone on to require hospital treatment for the virus. The jab was found to be 90 per cent effective when a half dose was followed by a full dose a month later.
Two full doses a month apart were only 62 per cent effective, giving the overall result of 70.4 per cent.
The success rate was significantly higher than for the normal flu jab. And British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca says the low production costs will allow it to distribute three billion doses across the world next year, including 700million by the end of March. It has pledged to provide them on a not-for-profit basis to developing countries ‘in perpetuity’. Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at Oxford, tweeted: ‘Oxford jab is far cheaper, and is easier to store and get to every corner of the world than the other two.’ UK regulators still have to give approval before the treatment can be used here. But Prof Adrian Hill (pictured), director of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, said: ‘I think we are on track for the timeline... to start getting this vaccine rolled out from December.’ He added high-risk groups would get their shots first before they were distributed more widely.
‘It’s going to be an enormous effort... hopefully there will be vaccine available for all adults, but that’s likely to be springtime rather than January,’ Prof Hill said.
Some 4million full doses are expected to be provided in the UK by the end of this year, with 40million by late March. Britain has also ordered 40million doses from Pfizer and 5million from Moderna.