Yes absolutely. The funds to Astra Zeneca however are not to develop the vaccine, they are to ramp up manufacture capabilities for Americans.
That's not really accurate - while part of the funding is to obtain 300 million doses of the vaccine if it works, the US funding is also to accelerate the development including the required phase 3 clinical trial on 30,000 volunteers in the US this summer.
The news about the vaccine came to light several weeks ago perhaps longer as they have already had interviews on with the NHS workers et al whom it is being tested on.
The promising Oxford vaccine has been in the news here for quite a while (probably one of the 1st we heard about here) as have other vaccine candidates - though still too early to know if they will work or have any side effects. Fingers crossed!
It is wonderful that the US is jumping in to take be proactive in helping it’s people just as every nation should. I was referring to the UK lab seeming to be ahead of the curve in their discovery of a vaccine
You seemed to be have been implying that it was not on the US news because it was not a US effort. That is just flat out wrong as it has been in the US news since the early days of the pandemic. Accelerated completion of the development is being made possible with significant US funding support - so we're not just helping our people, we're helping everyone.
Of course the vital step for any vaccine is will it work. Few European countries have as deep pockets as the US to invest such sums however the good news for them is that with some tweaking the manufacture protocol put in place for a vaccine that doesn’t work, can be reworked to produce another. The manufacturer as its backers and shareholders can smile. In fact if they can get it out in a hurry we can all smile. As of this morning all the big news networks are reporting on the hopeful news from Oxford with regard to the vaccine. The lab is starting the next phase of broader testing which includes those as young as 5 and over 70 based on the their completed first wave of human trials. Let’s keep everything crossed for good news and that the manufacturers will soon have big orders to be rolling out!
It will be great if it works but, as I have 30 years in R&D with one of the pharma companies in the news on these efforts, I've learned not to "count my chickens before they've hatched" - so I'm cautiously optimistic.
The good news for all is that there are numerous efforts on multiple vaccine candidates in progress with different companies/countries around the world. Some companies are even gearing up/investing to manufacture before they have final results. Hopefully, at least one will work!
Here's a pretty balanced view on the challenges and progress on the vaccine front - promising, but still lots to sort out:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01092-3
