AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Ready for Large-Scale Immunization as Early as December, Says CEO

AstraZeneca Plc (Cambridgeshire, England) expects test results from its COVID-19 vaccine candidate within the next eight weeks and hopes to begin large-scale vaccinations as early as this year.

Trials of AstraZeneca’s adenovirus vector-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222, developed by the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK), were delayed slightly over the summer due to a slowdown in COVID-19 infection rates in the northern hemisphere. However, the latest resurgence in fresh COVID-19 cases has allowed scientists to gather the clinical data needed for the test results, AstraZeneca’s Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said.

In a Bloomberg Television interview, Soriot said that many questions still remained regarding AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, such as whether it would show results for everyone and for how long. “At the end of the day, we don’t yet know if the vaccine works. We would hope that large-scale vaccinations would be possible starting in January next year - possibly even December,” said Soriot.

Similarly, in its recently-released earnings results, AstraZeneca said, “Results from late-stage trials are anticipated later this year, depending on the rate of infection within the communities where the clinical trials are being conducted. Data readouts will be submitted to regulators and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.”

Meanwhile, the UK government is preparing for a possible rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine in late December or early 2021, according to a Reuters report. “I’m optimistic that we could reach that point before the end of this year,” said Oxford Vaccine Trial Chief Investigator Andrew Pollard about the chances of presenting the trial results.

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