British AstraZeneca began mass production of the vaccine before final tests

UK-registered pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has begun production of a COVID-19 vaccine without waiting for final test results.

Company chief Pascal Soriot told the BBC that the firm should start making doses now to meet demand if the vaccine is effective. “We need to have drugs ready to use when we get the results,” he explained. According to him, AstraZeneca will be able to produce up to two billion doses of the vaccine.

The company deliberately takes a big risk - if the test results turn out to be negative, all doses, along with related materials, will have to be destroyed. Sorio assured that AstraZeneca will not seek to profit from the production of the drug during a pandemic.

• The final test results will be available only in August 2020. But at the same time, AstraZeneca agreed to deliver 300 million doses of the potential vaccine to the US and another 100 million to the UK as early as September.

• AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine with scientists at Oxford University, has agreed to supply half of the doses to low- and middle-income countries.

• On Thursday, June 4, AstraZeneca signed new contracts, one of which was with organizations supported by the Bill Gates Foundation. The contract was signed for $750 million.

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