Vaccines against C-19 variants ‘will be ready by autumn’
VACCINES against new coronavirus variants should be ready by October, the team behind the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab said yesterday.
In a media briefing hosted by AstraZeneca, Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said work on designing a new vaccine could be completed rapidly.
It comes after studies have shown that variants of coronavirus with the worrying E484K mutation could make vaccines less effective, though they are still expected to offer good protection against illness and severe disease.
The mutation is found in the South African variant of the virus, which has prompted surge-testing in eight postcode areas of England where community transmission is feared.
It has also been detected in Bristol in the variant first identified in Kent, and in Liverpool in a new variant of the original pandemic strain.
Prof Pollard said: “I think the actual work on designing a new vaccine is very, very quick because it’s essentially just switching out the genetic sequence for the spike protein, for the updated variants.
“And then there’s manufacturing to do and then a small-scale study. So all of that can be completed in a very short period of time, and the autumn is really the timing for having new vaccines available for use rather than for having the clinical trials run.”
Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vicepresident of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, said: “Our ambition is to be ready for the next round of immunisations that may be necessary as we go into next winter. That’s what we’re aiming for. We’re very much aiming to try and have something ready by the autumn. So, this year.”
Prof Pollard also told the briefing that social distancing needs to continue for now, despite Oxford’s analysis showing a substantial effect on transmission. Earlier, he said vaccines in general should still protect against severe disease.
“I think one of the things that we know about these new variants is that they are making changes that allow them to avoid human immune responses so that they can still transmit,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“So that does mean that it’s likely over time that the virus will find ways of adapting and continue to pass between people, despite natural infection and immunity after that or from the vaccines.” It comes as:
An outbreak of coronavirus has been confirmed at the Valneva vaccine site in Livingston, Scotland, which was visited by Boris Johnson last week.
Baroness Dido Harding, head of NHS Test and Trace, told MPs that around 20,000 people a day contacted by the system are not fully complying with instructions to self-isolate.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said data from Oxford shows its vaccine could substantially cut transmission and “will help us all to get out of this pandemic”. He hailed the new analysis as “absolutely superb”, after results showed the jab offers 76% protection up to three months after the first dose and could reduce transmission.