LONDON: British-Swedish biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has in association with the University of Oxford rolled out human trials for booster shots against Beta Covid variant. The booster shot, namely AZD2816, will be administered to individuals who have previously been fully vaccinated with two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine/Vaxzervia or an mRNA vaccine, at least three months after their last injection.

In non-vaccinated individuals, AZD2816 will be given as two doses, four or twelve weeks apart, or given as a second dose following a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine/Vaxzervia --four weeks apart, the company said in a statement on Sunday.

AZD2816 has been designed using the same adenoviral vector platform as AstraZeneca vaccine/ Vaxzervia, with minor genetic alterations to the spike protein based on the Beta (B1351) variant, first identified in South Africa. The study aims to enroll 2,250 participants from the UK, South Africa, Brazil and Poland to build immunity against the Beta Covid variant.

Initial data from the trial is expected later this year and, once available, will be submitted to regulators for assessment as a next-generation booster vaccine and through an expedited regulatory pathway, the company said. Besides these minor modifications, the two AZD2816 and AstraZeneca vaccine/ Vaxzervia vaccines are the same, it noted.

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