US has confirmed 300 million doses of corona vaccine from AstraZeneca. Image Courtesy – https://www.nbcbayarea.com
The United States has been the worst hit by novel coronavirus with 1,645,094 of total infected, 97,647 death by coronavirus and 403,201 people recovered from the disease till date. With such a horrible situation, the most powerful country in the world has become very needy for a vaccine.
The United States has already agreed to receive 300 million doses of the experimental vaccine developed by scientists at the Oxford University of the United Kingdom. US will receive about one-third of the 100 million doses of the first batch of the potential corona vaccine from the AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational biopharmaceutical company of UK. The United States will pay $1.2 billion to the company.
Experts made an opinion that it would not be possible to revive the stagnant economy without vaccines. So, the country’s health and human services authorities agreed to pay 1.2 billion to the UK pharmaceutical company after US President Donald Trump demanded for a vaccine. In this process, the United States has confirmed the receipt of 300 million doses.
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Answering to a press conference, Donald Trump said that his administration is doing a lot of work on vaccines and drugs. A big announcement could come in the next couple of weeks regarding drugs and vaccines. Alex Michael Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, US, told that the agreement with AstraZeneca is an important milestone for Operation Warp Speed.
Earlier, the possible vaccine was known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Now it has been named as AZD 122. The vaccine was developed by Oxford University and licensed by AstraZeneca. However, the immunity of this vaccine is uncertain, so it is not yet possible to say how effective the use of the vaccine will be.
In addition to AstraZeneca, the United States has signed agreements with other top organizations working on the corona vaccine. These include Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and Moderna. As a result of the company’s agreement with the United States, the test of the vaccine will enter into the third level. This will lead to a clinical trial of corona vaccine on 30,000 people in the country.
The Cambridge-based AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom says it has already signed a deal to sell 400 million doses and has the capacity to produce 100 million doses. The first consignment of the vaccine will start delivering in September.
Reference: Reuters
