UK Approves Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine for Coronavirus

UK Approves Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine for Coronavirus

United Kingdom health officials have authorized the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca for the coronavirus.

The decision green lights the rollout of millions of doses for usage in a country where infections have surged.

Britain is also linked to the new more highly infectious strain of the virus.  

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Matt Hancock, the Minister of Health said Wednesday that with AstraZeneca supply the UK will have enough vaccine to immunize all citizens.

In September, the company halted coronavirus vaccine trials after a “serious suspected adverse reaction in a participant.” 

The approval represents the third emergency-use approval of a Western-developed vaccine this month and comes as cases rise sharply in the U.S. and Europe. A shot developed by Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech  and one by Moderna have both been cleared in the U.S.

AstraZeneca’s shot—less effective in clinical trials than its rivals’ injections—is not expected to available in the U.S. until the Food and Drug Administration reviews large-scale trials still being conducted there and decides to authorize its use.