Accepting the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the British government has authorised the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for use. This means it has met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, December 30, was former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
Mrs Smith said the additional vaccine approval provided “a little bit of hope” in getting through the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care declared the vaccine has undergone “rigorous trials” to get to this point.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will also publish its latest advice for the priority groups to receive this vaccine.
Hundreds of thousands of people have already been vaccinated by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Now the availability of another vaccine is considered a scientific breakthrough.
“With two vaccines now approved, we will be able to vaccinate a greater number of people who are at highest risk,” said the Department of Health and Social Care.
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This is in the hope to “protect them from the disease and reduce mortality and hospitalisation”.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will require two doses of the jab to complete the course – akin to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
How do vaccines work?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) explained how vaccines help to prompt the body’s natural defence system to fight against specific pathogens.
To gain an understanding, it’s vital to know that pathogens – such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or fungus – contain unique antigens.
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The body’s natural defence system produces antibodies in response to the antigen.
This can take time when the human body is exposed to an antigen for the first time – meanwhile, the person is susceptible to becoming ill.
Once the body produces antibodies in its response to an antigen, “antibody-producing memory cells” are also created.
These “remain alive” even after the pathogen is defeated by antibodies, meaning the immune response is “much faster” and “more effective” in facing the same pathogen, should it encounter it again.
This is where vaccines become useful in bolstering a person’s immune system response.
Either containing weakened, inactive or blueprints for antigens, the vaccine prompts the body’s natural immune response to produce specific antibodies.
The WHO said: “A vaccine is a tiny, weakened non-dangerous fragment of the organism and includes part of the antigen.
“It’s enough that our body can learn to build the specific antibody. Then if the body encounters the real antigen later, as part of the real organism, it already knows how to defeat it.”
Herd immunity
When enough people in the community are vaccinated, herd immunity can emerge.
This is when the pathogen – such as SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes the coronavirus disease) – finds it difficult to circulate in a population.
Herd immunity provides “substantial protection” to those who are unable to be vaccinated.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be rolled out from January 4, Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed today.
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