Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Reaches Final Stage Of Trials

The UK's medicines and healthcare regulatory body is currently in the final stages of assessing whether another Covid 19 vaccine made by Oxford University in conjunction with AstraZeneca is safe and effective to be used on humans to effectively protect them against the virus during the pandemic. This will be another form of protection that can be used to help lower the number of people who die from the disease. It is easier for doctors to prescribe and use as it doesn't have to be kept at extremely low temperatures like the Pfizer vaccine.

If the new vaccine is cleared, it could significantly bolster the UK governments armoury in protecting the country's population from the virus and be able to be exported round the world to save further lives. The UK is looking to provide mass inoculations round the country by Spring next year to help save as many lives as possible and help build up people's immunity.

"The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is the vaccine right now that is going to be able to immunize the planet more effectively, more rapidly than any other vaccine we have," Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, told CNBC earlier this month.

AstraZeneca's initial trial data was criticized in November, with the head of the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed noting the drug maker showed 90 percent efficacy only for subjects younger than 55, a lower-risk demographic.

The CEO of AstraZeneca stated that further trial data would indicate broader efficacy and aleavepeople's worries when deciding whether or not it was safe to have the vaccine. Due to the speed of the vaccines development, many people have been worried as to whether or not it is safe to use. Vaccines usually take years to develop and test but due to the urgency and the need to save more lives during the pandemic, the Covid 19 vaccine has had to be developed extremely quickly.

The UK is set to strongly consider using the vaccine as many other variants of the virus are arriving from overseas which are said to be even more infectious and to spread faster than the original virus.

It is strongly believed that the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory body will give the new vaccine the green light some time this week meaning that members of the public will have a further choice to make as to which vaccine they have when they are contacted by their GP. People should not go to their GP unless they are contacted to avoid the risk of being in overcrowded places where the virus can spread more easily.

After having the vaccine, people should still follow the recommended measures to avoid any risk of catching the virus. This includes wearing a face covering when out and about in public places and always maintaining a social distancing level of two metres where they can or one metre plus where this can't be done. Having the vaccine will give people a greater sense of freedom as they will be able to go out and about more often whilst always following the correct measures to ensure a sense of normality.

The government is confident that once the vaccine has reached everyone, restrictions on travel will be lifted meaning people will be able to go abroad on holiday again and see family and friends where ever they are. This should give families a lot of quality time together as at the moment, they can only contact each other and communicate using phone, e-mail or using video conferencing sites such as Zoom etc. The majority of the population is waiting for all restrictions to be lifted as for the past year, we have all faced restrictions on what we can and can't do as well as where we can go and with whom. Once everyone has been immunised, it should make it a lot easier for everyone to go out and about and sooner or later, life should return back to normal.