New Delhi: With the UK giving the green light to the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and drug maker AstraZeneca, India is also expected to follow suit soon as a meeting of the decision-making body began on Friday, giving new hope of beginning the end of the pandemic as the New Year ushers in.
The authorisation in the UK recommended two doses administered with an interval of between four and 12 weeks.
This regimen was shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations more than 14 days after the second dose, according to AstraZeneca.
Now known as Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, it was formerly called AZD1222.
AZD1222 was co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech. It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic…