There aren’t any plans to order additional provides of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for the UK, it has been revealed, as specialists expressed hope {that a} new jab designed to focus on two variants will kind the spine of the autumn booster programme.
Deemed a British success story, and estimated to have saved tens of millions of lives worldwide, the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid jab performed a key function early within the UK’s vaccination programme. However Prof Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has advised it’s unlikely for use sooner or later.
“It was a improbable vaccine, and it nonetheless is a improbable vaccine for the world … and the inhabitants which obtained AstraZeneca vaccines after all obtained superb safety from it,” he instructed BBC Radio 4’s At present programme on Tuesday. “However the best way that the taskforce has determined to buy the vaccines, we’re utilizing mRNA vaccines now.”
The Division of Well being and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed to the Guardian that it had not positioned additional orders for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and stated the choice was right down to a suggestion by the JCVI that mRNA vaccines – such because the Pfizer or Moderna jabs – ought to primarily be used for boosters.
“The outcomes of the Cov-Enhance trial performed in the course of the summer time of 2021 supplied good proof that mRNA vaccines are the simplest possibility for the UK’s booster programme,” a JCVI spokesperson stated, noting that the jabs supplied an excellent immune response no matter which vaccine was used for earlier doses.
“Actual-world knowledge of vaccine effectiveness following the rollout of the booster programme help the outcomes from the Cov-Enhance trial,” they stated.
Whereas the JCVI has beforehand suggested booster photographs with the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab can happen in distinctive circumstances, the DHSC has now procured provides of the Novavax vaccine – approved by the MHRA in February – which the JCVI has advisable must be provided to individuals who can not have mRNA vaccines for scientific causes, corresponding to allergic reactions.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab has had a bumpy trip since its first outcomes have been launched in 2020, together with considerations over rare blood clot complications, misinformation – corresponding to claims the jab has low efficacy in aged individuals – and criticisms over the design of the vaccine’s trials.
Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics on the College of Bristol and a member of the JCVI, stated the committee may solely advise on the deployment of vaccines that the federal government had determined to purchase.
He stated an abundance of warning over the difficulty of blood clots in youthful individuals was one motive the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab was not deemed appropriate for the booster programme, together with public notion of the vaccine.
“Clearly, the entire success of the vaccine programme hinges on there being a public buy-in to accepting the vaccine,” he stated.
The jab was additionally unlikely for use for first and second doses, he advised. “I feel main immunisation [has] just about stopped now, within the sense that anybody who desires a vaccine by now may have had it,” Finn stated.
As well as, the DHSC famous that those that can not have an mRNA jab for his or her main course may now be provided the Novavax vaccine.
Simplicity issues, Finn advised. “Operationally, the less vaccines you’ve obtained, the better the communication, the better the logistics,” he stated, including that this additionally goes for the autumn booster marketing campaign.
“The perfect situation … could be to deploy the brand new Moderna bivalent vaccine – simply give it to everyone eligible for a booster and simply have one vaccine that everybody will get,” he stated. “It’s simply that we don’t actually know but whether or not we are able to match provide and demand to do this.”
However Harnden instructed the Guardian that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine nonetheless had an vital function to play in tackling Covid worldwide, noting that the UK had donated doses to the Covax world vaccine-sharing scheme.
“[The jab] is a really efficient vaccine that doesn’t have the identical storage and transport points that the mRNA vaccines have. So [it] is an excellent vaccine for growing world the place the temperature necessities will be extra problematic,” he stated. “JCVI are making suggestions on the selection of vaccines within the context of UK provide.”
