5 Mar 2021
LONDON (AP) – Regulators in the UK and four other countries have announced new rules to fast-track the development of modified COVID-19 vaccines to ensure drugmakers can move swiftly to target emerging variants of the disease.
Previously authorized vaccines that are modified to combat new variants “will not need a brand new approval or `lengthy’ clinical studies,” Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said Thursday.
“The clear goal is that future vaccine modifications that respond to the new variants of coronavirus can be made available in the shortest possible time to UK recipients without compromising at any stage on safety, quality or effectiveness,” Dr June Raine, the head of the agency, said in a briefing for reporters.
New York state trails only Arizona in Covid-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. More than a quarter of those getting a vaccine in New York City are nonresidents who tend to be younger and are more likely to be White than those who live there. Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will reallocate unused hospital-worker vaccines to those with medical preconditions.