UK Expects to Approve AstraZeneca’s Vaccine in Coming Days to Ease Lockdown Measures

The U.K. is expecting to approve AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s coronavirus vaccine in the coming days, reported FT.

 

On Sunday, the Financial Times reported that the U.K. government officials confirmed that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency would imminently approve the vaccine and the official announcement could come as soon as Tuesday.

However, the U.K. Department of Health said that there should be given time to properly assess the data from the vaccine’s trials. Cabinet Minister Michael Gove did not give away any information regarding the approval but stated that it could accelerate the lifting of strict lockdowns in the country.

The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca is expected to be rolled out by next week if approved in the coming days. The vaccine would join Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine that was approved three weeks ago.

 

Thailand on November 27, 2020 signed a 6,000 million baht purchase agreement for the purchase of 26 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca following the Cabinet’s resolution on November 17, 2020.

The doses would cover 13 million people which expected the vaccine will be available in Thailand in mid-2021.