Britain: Talks With AstraZeneca About The Vaccine to Combat Beta COVID-19 Variant

British Health Minister Matt Hancock said Wednesday, June 2 that his country is in talks with Oxford and AstraZeneca to obtain additional doses of their vaccine against the Corona virus, which has been modified to better target the (beta) strain of the emerging corona virus that first appeared in South Africa.

“We’ve started commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca to secure a variant vaccine: future supplies of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine that have been adapted to tackle the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa,” Hancock said in a speech at Oxford University.