Q and A

Question

Which vaccines against COVID-19 are being used in the UK?

Answer

There are currently four COVID-19 vaccines that are authorised in the UK. Several others are expected during 2021.

On 28 May 2021 the UK approved a fourth vaccine (JNJ-78436725), made by Janssen/Johnson & Johnson. It was approved in the EU on 11 March and in the US on 27 February. Although this vaccine only needs a single injection, it is not likely to be available in the UK until later in 2021.

The third vaccine that was approved in the UK is called BNT162b2 (tozinameran). The trade name is Comirnaty.

BNT162b2 is made by Pfizer/BioNTech. It was approved in the UK on 2 December, in the US on 12 December and in the EU on 21 December 2020.

On 8 January 2021, a second similar vaccine, developed by Moderna/NIH was approved in the UK. However, this is unlikely to be widely available until March/April 2021. The Moderna was approved in the US on 18 December 2020. The code name for this vaccine is mRNA-1273. It was approved in Europe on 6 January.

On 30 December 2020, the UK approved the vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca. This is called ChAdOx1 (from Chimp Adenovirus Oxford). It also has the code name AZD1222.

Other vaccines are being used in UK studies (see later below). These include:

  • A vaccine from Novavax that was studied in the UK and South Africa.
  • A self-amplifying ribonucleic acid (saRNA) vaccine at UCL.

As new vaccines are approved we will add them to this page.

The PROVENT and STORM CHASER studies are looking at using a monoclonal antibody (AZD7442) for people who might not benefit from vaccines. GSK is also studying a monoclonal antibody (VIR-7831) in early infection.

This is one of more than 70 questions about COVID vaccines. It was produced by and for people living with HIV.

Q&A on COVID vaccines: are they safe and effective?
https://i-base.info/qa/16330

This post was updated on 28 May and 5 February 2021 from an initial post on 22 December 2020.

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