Oxford thinks it would be “quick” to adapt vaccines to a virus mutation

According to preliminary results, released this Monday, his injection showed an effectiveness between 62% and 90%.

The director of the Oxford Vaccine Center, Andrew Pollard, said Monday 23-N that if the coronavirus were to mutate it would be “relatively fast” to develop a new effective vaccine based on existing ones.

“I think that won’t be the case, but if they stop protecting, both for Moderna and Pfizer and for us it could be relatively fast,” said the head of the University of Oxford group who collaborated with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in creating of a vaccine.

According to preliminary results, released this Monday, his injection showed an effectiveness between 62% and 90%.

Pollard explained that designing an effective solution against a new mutation could be a “matter of days” in the laboratory, even if a new product would have to be retested and manufactured.

If so, “dialogue with regulators on whether we need to repeat the whole process or whether we could change quickly” would be crucial, “he said.

“Given the possibility that the virus could mutate, a very robust surveillance system is needed, and this has already been done around the world. For now, the virus is not under pressure to spread mutations that prevent vaccines,” he stressed. . Pollard.

He noted that one of the Oxford vaccine studies yielded 90% effectiveness by injecting half a dose of the drug, followed by a full dose one month later.

“We may have more doses than we thought,” Pollard said, if the usage regimen that was eventually approved for his vaccine doesn’t require two full doses.