AstraZeneca Could Have COVID-19 Vaccine Against Variant by End of 2021: Austrian Newspaper

AstraZeneca Could Have COVID-19 Vaccine Against Variant by End of 2021: Austrian Newspaper
Vials labelled "AstraZeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken March 10, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

ZURICH—A modified version of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine tailored to combat a coronavirus variant first documented in South Africa could be ready by the end of 2021, an AstraZeneca official in Austria said in an interview published on Sunday.

Sarah Walters, AstraZeneca’s Austria country manager, told the Kurier newspaper that studies, so far, indicating the existing AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective against the more infectious variant first documented in South Africa were “too small to draw final conclusions.”