Earlier today the UK became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and according to Danny Altmann, Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, this could lead to the ‘population being immune by the Spring.’
The UK will receive 100 million doses of the jab, enough to vaccinate 50 million people with the rollout due to start on will start on 4th January.
Danny Altmann, Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London said: “Scientists don’t use terms like ‘game-changer’ lightly, but that’s what this is. Currently, the virus is once again proving that it can devastate by outrunning even our most draconian efforts to break transmission by limiting contact. To get out of this debacle there is no alternative to having a significant majority of the population carrying a high level of neutralising antibodies. With today’s announcement, that comes within our grasp.
“I await the modelling, but I suspect this will speed things by several months. An immune population by the Spring starts to look feasible.”
Unlike the current Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has so far been used to treat 600,000 people, the newly approved vaccine can be stored in an ordinary fridge, making it easier to transport and is cheaper, due to AstraZeneca promising the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis.
