U.K. regulator reportedly expected to greenlight Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine this week

Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
(Image credit: JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)

The United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is preparing to approve the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca at some point next week, The Telegraph and The Times report.

British ministers are reportedly drawing up plans to roll out the vaccine by Jan. 4. The U.K. has already approved and administered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the government reportedly wants 2 million people to receive either shot within two weeks in the hopes of easing intense lockdowns across the country prompted by a new coronavirus variant that may be more transmissible.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.