AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to be widely distributed by end Q1 2021 - report

The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University could be in advanced stage of distribution by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

In remarks to Spanish broadcaster RAC1, Josep Baselga, AstraZeneca's head of Research and Development for Oncology offered that timeline assuming that "everything goes well".

He also said that AstraZeneca estimates that it will have approximately 3.0bn doses ready by the start of 2021.

Current plans are for vaccinations to consist of two doses given 28 days apart.

But the researcher argued that no one should be forced to take the vaccine, saying that the decision to be inoculated or not was an inalienable personal right.

Baselga reportedly also said that AstraZeneca was developing treatments using monoclonal antobodies, of the 16 being worked on, one was "excellent".

Hence, although a "horrible" winter lay ahead, the following summer should be "relatively normal".