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AstraZeneca vaccine could be ready to use by Christmas

First doses would need emergency approval for use by healthcare workers and high-risk patients.

It sounds like scientists in Britain will have a Christmas present for some of us — a working coronavirus vaccine.

Let’s connect the dots.

Researchers at Oxford and AstraZeneca have been working on a COVID-19 vaccine for months, and now the professor leading the project says the vaccine may be ready by Christmas time.

But before you get too excited, those first doses would go to health care workers and high-risk patients. And those holiday shots would need emergency approval from regulators with final approval for the rest of us expected after the new year.

This comes as AstraZeneca announced the vaccine produced an immune response in both young and old adults.

It also produced few negative side effects in the elderly. This is significant because as you age, your immune system weakens, which can affect the effectiveness of vaccines.

The maker thinks this vaccine will provide protection from COVID-19 for about a year.

The vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca is one of the frontrunners for approval. The U.S. government has backed this vaccine as part of its Operation Warp Speed.

In order to get it out to the general population, the U.S is actually already manufacturing doses.

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