The UK Funds 30 Million SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Doses For September Delivery

The U.K. Business Secretary indicated the government has reached an agreement with the Imperial College London and AstraZeneca to accelerate the production of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine candidate.

The deal reported by Reuters on May 18, 2020, indicates AstraZeneca will manufacture up to 30 million vaccine doses by September 2020, as part of an overall commitment to delivering 100 million doses for UK residents.

Under this agreement announced by British business minister Alok Sharma, the UK pledged 65.5 million pounds in funding for the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford and 18.5 million pounds for related work at Imperial College London.

Similar to other SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus vaccine candidates being developed, companies are increasing manufacturing scale so they can be produced when approved and then rapidly distributed to patients as quickly as possible.

The University of Oxford, contributed its research on the ChAdOx vaccine, in April 2020 an agreement with AstraZeneca for further expertise in the development, global production, and distribution.

Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer, AstraZeneca, said in a related press release, “As COVID-19 continues its grip on the world, the need for a vaccine to defeat the virus is urgent.” 

“This collaboration brings together the University of Oxford’s world-class expertise in vaccinology and AstraZeneca’s global capabilities, so we can accelerate the globalization of a vaccine to combat the virus and protect people from the deadliest pandemic in a generation.”

A recent non-peer-reviewed study published on May 13, 2020, showed that a single vaccination in rhesus macaques with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is effective in preventing damage to the lungs upon high dose challenge with SARS-CoV-2. 

Similarly, a recent study showed that a triple vaccination regime of a high-dose of whole inactivated SARS-CoV-2 protected rhesus macaques from SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.

Precision Vaccinations published SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development news.