Covid-19: Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine approved for use in UK

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This is classic operations research linear optimisation stuff.<p>You have an expensive two dose vaccine which has very high confidence but demands explicit temperature protocols be matched, and limited supply.<p>You have a cheap two dose vaccine with some evidence of at least 50% and probably better coverage, which can be mass produced quickly and issued to any doctor or pharmacy for use, with no stringent temperature protocol.<p>There is evidence of increased virulence in the infection.<p>The hospital system is at its breaking point operating over 100% capacity with severe staffing issues.<p>What do you do?<p>Chasing perfection when it turns out statistically giving more people a lower confidence single dose now can save more lives...<p>This is what operations research is all about.

&gt;&gt; How effective is the Oxford vaccine?<p>&gt;&gt; There are three figures doing the rounds - 62%, 70% and 90%. The first analysis of the trial data showed 70% of people were protected from developing Covid-19 and nobody developed severe disease or needed hospital treatment.<p>&gt;&gt; The figure was just 62% when people were given two full doses of the jab and 90% when they were first given a half dose and then a full one.<p>&gt;&gt; The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved two full doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.<p>&gt;&gt; However, unpublished data suggests that leaving a longer gap between the first and second doses increases the overall effectiveness of the jab.<p>This description of the results doesn’t inspire confidence.

This is the type of vaccine that can end the pandemic. Cheap to produce, cheap to distribute, old well-understood technology.