The United States is expected to approve the low -cost AstraZeneca /Oxford Covid vaccine in April, a senior official said , more than three months after Britain ’ s green light on Wednesday .
Moncef Slaoui, the chief advisor to Operation Warp Speed , the military – led US effort for vaccines, told reporters that US trials and assessments would be complete for approval “ sometime in early April . ”
“ Several tens of millions of doses will have been manufactured … and therefore will be available for use if the data supports its approval, ” he said .
He did not allege that Britain rushed its decision and praised Britain ’ s MHRA regulatory agency as “ science – based. ”
“ Therefore I am not raising any question as to the decision that they have made , ” he said .
“ Having said that, the requirements of the decision process as we have built it here in the US is what I can really comment on . ”
Slaoui also voiced hope for approval in the first half of February of the Janssen vaccine by Johnson & Johnson , which in contrast to the initially approved vaccines comes in a single dose .
( AFP)
