EU regulator is considering Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine

Europe's drugs regulator will review AstraZeneca and Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine this month under an accelerated timeline, after the British drugmaker submitted an application for conditional approval, the watchdog said on Tuesday.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) did not provide details on which documents or data were made available online, but said necessary action was being taken by law enforcement authorities. It is also studying additional information provided by AstraZeneca at the CHMP's request. If approved, it would be the third Covid-19 vaccine given the green light in the European Union after Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Moderna announced that deliveries to Europe were due to begin yesterday.

The Australia and New Zealand Society for Immunology says, based on current evidence, the AstraZeneca vaccine shouldn't be relied on for controlling the virus in Australia.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has the major advantages of being both easier to store than others and relatively cheap, costing about 2.75 euros ($3.40) per dose.

Australia may face a setback with it its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan with experts suggesting one jab may not be effective enough to achieve herd immunity.

The HSE will remain mainly reliant on Pfizer BioNTech which has promised 40,000 doses a week to Ireland until the end of February.

Around 35,000 people have got the first dose of this vaccine so far, mainly health workers, including over 3,000 residents and staff in long term care homes.