The United States is not likely to begin administering doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine until May, roughly four full months after the European Union greenlit the shots.
More than 70 countries are now putting the two-dose AstraZeneca vaccine into arms after international health regulators concluded it is safe and highly effective. The European Medicines Agency first granted authorization for the shots on Jan. 29. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has not yet submitted a petition for emergency use authorization to the Food and Drug Administration but is expected to do so “in the coming weeks.”
That puts the vaccine on track to reach states in May, when the U.S. is expected to have a surplus of vaccine.
ASTRAZENECA COVID-19 VACCINE 100% EFFECTIVE AT PREVENTING HOSPITALIZATIONS, COMPANY SAYS
About 30 million doses of the vaccine are sitting idle at AstraZeneca’s manufacturing plant in Ohio. Maryland-based drug manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions, contracted to help mass produce the shots, is also prepared to produce “tens to hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine.”
The U.S. has already lined up enough vaccines to immunize every U.S. adult by the end of May, making the millions of unused AstraZeneca doses in warehouses unusable. The Biden administration is now facing mounting pressure to donate those shots to countries that need them.
“We should give away the millions of doses of stockpiled AZ vaccine,” according to Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
“By time AZ is authorized by FDA, we’ll have LOTS of vaccines,” Jha added Monday. “The time to use AZ here would have been in January. By May, we won’t need it.”
The latest data from the U.S.-based AstraZeneca trial published on Monday showed that the two-dose vaccine performed better than expected, with an efficacy rate of 79% overall in preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19. The largest trial for the two-shot vaccine, consisting of more than 32,000 people, also found the shots prevented severe illness and hospitalizations, welcome news for the company whose vaccine has been dogged by doubts about its safety.
Reports earlier this month of more than 30 cases of severe blood clots, some fatal, in European vaccine recipients caused several member states to suspend use of the drug, further slowing the bloc’s already sluggish vaccine rollout. Most countries resumed administering the vaccine last week after the European Medicines Agency announced it had deemed the jab safe and effective.
Some European leaders are now working to shore up public confidence in the shots. French Prime Minister Jean Castex publicly received his first dose of the vaccine on Friday, even though doses are currently designated for seniors over 75, people with underlying health conditions, and healthcare workers, “to show my fellow citizens that vaccination is the way out of this crisis and that we can do it in completely safety.”
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, announced Friday after getting the first of two shots that “getting the jab is the best thing we can do to get back to the lives we miss so much.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also said she “absolutely would” get the shot when it is her turn.
Amid growing calls for the federal government to share the excess supply, the Biden administration announced last week that it would ship 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to Mexico, along with over 1 million to Canada.
