AstraZeneca has said it could take between six and nine months to produce Covid-19 vaccines that are effective against new variants of the coronavirus, and begin administering them to the public, writes The Guardian.

The company’s vaccine, developed jointly with scientists at the University of Oxford, remains effective against the original virus and at least one variant, first discovered in Kent, England. But preliminary findings in a small-scale trial prompted South Africa to limit its use while it ascertains its efficacy against the variant that emerged there.

A six-month turnaround for an updated vaccine would represent a vast improvement over traditional vaccine development timelines.

“Work on the variants hasn’t started today, it started weeks and months ago, as soon as those new variants were identified and … we are aiming to be in the clinic in the spring, with next generation vaccines for the new variants”, - said Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vice-president, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca.