AstraZeneca chief ‘very confident’ Oxford coronavirus vaccine trial will work
The head of pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has said he is “very confident” that Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine trial will work.
Pascal Soriot said he thought his company, which has been commissioned to distribute the vaccine if effective, can begin to distribute the vaccine in December.
AstraZeneca has been commissioned to provide 100m doses of the vaccine in the UK under an agreement with the government.
Professor Adrian Hill, who is leading the trial, told the Sunday Telegraph today that there was only a 50 per cent chance the trial would yield results.
However, Soriot struck a more positive note this morning.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “We are quite confident this vaccine will work actually, the question will be whether it actually completely clears the virus or stops people from being sick.
“This is what happens with the flu vaccine – it simply stops people from being sick.
“We are very confident it will work.
“We have received an order to supply 100m doses of the vaccine and that will go to the British people and there is no doubt starting in September when we started delivering these doses for vaccination.”
He added that the trial vaccine had protected monkeys from Covid-19, but did not stop them from catching the virus.
He said: “The vaccine protected the animals against the disease – none of the animals developed pneumonia and that’s exactly what I was raising a minute ago .
“Will some patients need a second dose and will the vaccine eliminate the virus from the body of the people or simply protect them against being sick?”