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HEALTH-VIRUS-BRITAIN-VACCINES
UK and others agree to fast-track adapted Covid vaccines
LONDON, March 4, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Modified vaccines designed to protect
against emerging coronavirus variants will get fast-track approval under a
pact announced on Thursday by medicines regulators in Britain and four other
countries.
The agreement will avert the need for lengthy clinical studies if
authorised vaccines are adapted in future, as long as the manufacturers offer
“robust evidence” of their potency and safety, according to the agreement by
the ACCESS Consortium.
The consortium comprises Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and counterparts from Australia, Canada, Singapore
and Switzerland.
“Our priority is to get effective vaccines to the public in as short a
time as possible, without compromising on safety,” MHRA chief scientific
officer Christian Schneider said in a statement.
“Should any modifications to authorised Covid-19 vaccines be necessary,
this regulatory approach should help to do just that.
“The public should be confident that no vaccine would be approved unless
the expected high standards of safety, quality and effectiveness are met.”
The approach is based on the “tried and tested” regulatory process used
for seasonal influenza vaccines, which need to be adapted every year to
combat new strains, the MHRA said.
– ‘Remain vigilant’ –
Britain began rolling out the world’s first mass vaccination programme for
the coronavirus in December. But health experts are concerned that new
variants of the disease, including one from Brazil, could prove more
resistant to the vaccines.
That would undermine plans by Britain and others to start unwinding
lockdowns in the coming weeks, which hinge on the vaccines giving enough
people protection and bringing down a winter surge in infections and deaths.
In England, the latest wide-scale survey of more than 165,000 volunteers
tested for Covid-19 showed that prevalence fell by two-thirds last month from
January, with one in every 204 people infected.
The survey overseen by London’s Imperial College showed the “R” number in
England came to 0.86. Anything under 1.0 signals the virus is no longer
growing exponentially in the population.
But it also found that the rate of decrease was slowing, prompting Health
Secretary Matt Hancock to urge continued caution as England prepares to
reopen schools to in-class teaching next Monday in the first phase of ending
its lockdown.
“There is some cause for concern that our hard-won progress may be slowing
down, and even reversing in some regions so it is important we remain
vigilant — this is on all of us,” Hancock said.
More than 123,000 people have died of Covid-19 across the UK, in one of
the world’s worst outbreaks.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1500HRS