Oxford and AstraZeneca received approval for their vaccine, AZD1222, in the United Kingdom, making it the second to be approved in the UK and third globally after those developed by Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna.
This is even as the United States reported its first incidence of the new coronavirus variant that was first identified in the UK. The new mutation is said to be more contagious and has prompted some countries to restrict travel from the UK. Globally, more than 81.9 million people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and 1,787,283 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
