AstraZeneca to Seek FDA Approval of COVID-19 Vaccine Within Weeks

MONDAY, March 8, 2021 (HealthDay News) — AstraZeneca says it will file for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States after it gets the results of a clinical trial within the next few weeks.

If the two-dose vaccine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration, it would be the fourth COVID-19 vaccine available in the United States. Upon FDA approval, AstraZeneca plans “to deliver roughly 50 million doses instantly to Americans,” Ruud Dobber, the company’s executive vice president, told CBS News on Friday.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is already being used internationally, after being approved by the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the World Health Organization. The three currently approved vaccines in the United States are from Moderna and Pfizer — both require two doses — and a one-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

Dobber also told CBS News “we’re very hopeful” that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “very effective against the U.K. variant” of the coronavirus, and that the company is “developing a potential new vaccine in case our current vaccine is not as effective as we were hoping for.”

CBS News Article