WHO grants emergency approval for AstraZeneca and Oxford COVID-19 vaccines

The World Health Organization (WHO) granted emergency approval on Monday for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Astrazeneca and the University of Oxford.

decision paves the way for distribution under the Covax mechanism hundreds of millions of doses to countries that have failed to procure significant quantities of the vaccine on their own.

“WHO registered today (Monday) two versions of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for these vaccines to be distributed worldwide via Covax,” a statement from the United Nations agency.

This approval process, which can be used by WHO in the event of a health emergency, helps countries that do not have the means to determine for themselves the effectiveness and safety of a drug, in order to have access faster.

The AstraZeneca vaccine represents the vast majority of the 337.2 million doses that Covax, led by the WHO, Alliance for Immunization (Gavi) and Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness (Cepi), has secured for distribution over the course of of the first semester of this year.

Doses of the mechanism are produced in India and South Korea respectively in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and SKBio. The first will provide 240 million vaccines, while the second will provide 96 million.

COVAX said shipments will meet the target of at least 3% of the populations of all countries receiving the vaccine in the first half of 2021. The idea is to protect the most vulnerable groups, such as health workers.

In the case of the 240 million AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by the IBS, it has been clarified that between 35% and 45% will be available by the end of March and the rest in the second quarter of the year.

Of the 96 million that will be produced in AstraZeneca factories, only 15% will be available until the end of the first quarter, 56% will be available in the second quarter and the rest in the second half.

this is the second immunizer to obtain this approval from the body. The first had been that of Pfizer and BioNtech.

Five days earlier, the WHO had already recommended the use of the immunizer for all adults, which was a boost given that it came after several European countries decided not to do so due to lack of information on its efficacy and safety for the age group.

Countries like Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Portugal had announced that they would not apply the vaccine to people over 65, saying there was not enough data on the effectiveness of the trial.

However, the agency recommended the vaccine to “all people over 18 with no upper age limit“. In a report, he found that it was 63% effective in preventing symptoms of the disease.

“The results of the efficacy estimate for people up to 65 years of age or older had a wide confidence interval and, therefore, we believe that the response of this group may not be different from that of the d groups. ‘younger age,’ said Alejandro Cravioto, Chair of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).

Cravioto also said that there is “significant evidence” that the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective against the B117 mutation of the coronavirus, also known as the South African variant.. The statement came after South Africa decided to halt the launch of the inoculant on Tuesday and threatened to sell its supplies after “disappointing” test results against the country’s new variant.

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