The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price will be on watch on Tuesday following news that another COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be given approval in the United Kingdom this week.
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What was announced?
According to CNBC, the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, AZD1222, is expected to be approved for use in the United Kingdom later this week.
This follows reports in the Financial Times which claim that government officials have confirmed that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency would imminently approve the vaccine, potentially as soon as Tuesday.
This comes a day after the United Kingdom reported approximately 30,500 daily infections and 316 deaths after a more transmissible COVID strain spreads across the country.
Why does this matter for CSL?
The potential approval of AZD1222 in the United Kingdom could be good news for CSL and Australia because the biotech giant has already commenced manufacturing of the vaccine candidate at its advanced manufacturing facility in Broadmeadows, Victoria.
This followed the receipt of separate contracts with AstraZeneca and the Australian Government to manufacture approximately 30 million doses of the AZD1222 vaccine candidate, with the first doses planned for release in 2021, pending the outcome of clinical trials and regulatory approval.
Is this vaccine the one?
The editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, Dr. Richard Horton, believes this vaccine could be used around the globe more effectively than others.
He told CNBC: "The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is the vaccine right now that is going to be able to immunize the planet more effectively, more rapidly than any other vaccine we have," adding that it was important to think about vaccine immunisation on a global scale "because even if we immunize one country, the threat then is you reintroduce the virus from another country that is not protected."
AstraZeneca's CEO, Pascal Soriot, expects the vaccine to be highly effective. He told the Times newspaper this weekend that he is convinced that subsequent data will show that this vaccine achieved an efficacy rate equal to the others, at above 90%.
