It’s evident that new coronavirus variant reported in UK is giving jitters to people globally. Amid this panic, British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc is confident that their new vaccine candidate can still battle the powerful mutant strain.
AstraZeneca Plc declared on Tuesday that its ongoing COVID-19 vaccine candidate could be effective to curb the new covid-19 variant. The health officials added that researchers are examining the possibility to fully investigate the impact of the mutation.
“AZD1222 (AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, and the changes to the genetic code seen in this new viral strain do not appear to change the structure of the spike protein,” an AstraZeneca spokesperson stated in an email.
It underwent blinded randomised controlled trials to assess safety and efficacy in few countries. The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) is being developed at Oxford University that comprises a replication-deficient chimpanzee adenoviral vector ChAdOx1. It contains the SARS-CoV-2 structural surface glycoprotein antigen (spike protein; nCoV-19) gene.