Government could face ‘tough choices’ over vaccines

The Government could face some “tough choices” if the vaccine produced byAstraZeneca and Oxford University is found to be less effective than others, aformer Department of Health director of immunisation has said.

Professor DavidSalisbury said ministers would need to think “very carefully” about theirhandling of the vaccine if its efficacy was lower than for other jabs such asthose from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine iscurrently being assessed by the Medicines and Healthcare products RegulatoryAgency (MHRA) for use in the UK.Data from two arms of its phase-three trial,announced last week, gave a combined efficacy of 70%.