The UK Health Products Control Authority this morning (Wednesday) approved the use of the corona disease vaccine developed by the British pharmaceutical company Astrasnica and the University of Oxford.
The decision is expected to lead to the transfer of four million vaccine doses to the British health system in the coming days. The UK has ordered one hundred million vaccine doses created by the British company and the ability to deliver the vaccine in normal refrigeration alone makes the logistical operation of transferring the doses to hospitals and nursing homes much simpler than what has been seen so far in the country.
Evaluating the efficacy of the vaccine took longer than expected due to the separation between the various trials conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to wait for the results of another trial that is taking place in the United States before approving the British vaccine.
Israel has ordered 10,000,000 Asteraznica vaccine doses, but the date of their delivery is subject to the decision of the US Food and Drug Administration. Last week the British company announced that the vaccine has shown much more promising results after the vaccination procedure was changed and its effectiveness exceeds ninety percent in preventing severe cases of coronary heart disease.
Professor Sarah Gilbert, who led the vaccine development at Oxford University, told the British Guardian: “None of the vaccine recipients were hospitalized for any reason during the trials we performed or suffered a severe Corona case. This is a tremendous achievement for public health.”